Axing of 80 trees for community centre stirs row in Hoshiarpur

HOSHIARPUR: Axing trees for construction of a community centre in the Civil Lines area here has courted a controversy as around 80 trees have been cut for clearing the land. It also includes a green mango tree, cutting of which is banned.

A tree cut for constructing a community centre in Hoshiarpur.

Our correspondent

Hoshiarpur, December 6

Axing trees for construction of a community centre in the Civil Lines area here has courted a controversy as around 80 trees have been cut for clearing the land. It also includes a green mango tree, cutting of which is banned.

The DC had imposed a ban on the cutting of green mango trees under Section 144 of the CrPC on October 23, 2019. The order read that if needed, these may be cut only with permission of the Forest Department.

The community centre will be constructed on 20,059 sq ft and the purposed area includes a chunk of land that had an old rest house of the British era. A large number of old trees were around it.

The old rest house was demolished and an auction to cut 89 trees near it was conducted. The auction notice was issued in November 2019 by an executive engineer of the PWD provincial division.

During the auction, a representative of the Forest Department, block officer Kuldeep Singh, was present and these 89 trees were auctioned for Rs1.75 lakh on November 15, 2019.

After the auction, 80 trees have been cut. When residents came to know about it, they objected to the move.

RTI activist Rajiv Vashisht said, “I took up the issue with executive engineer, PWD provincial division, Rajinder Singh, demanding do away with axing of trees immediately. A total of 80 trees have already been cut and the fate of 9-10 trees is still hanging in balance. These include a mango tree as well while the other one is already cut despite the ban imposed by the DC under Section 144 of the CrPC.”

Forest Range Officer Sanjeev Kumar confirmed that the PWD had sought assessment for axing trees to construct a community centre and the assessment report for it was submitted. He said no proceeding was initiated for issuing the permit to cut mango trees as no such application was filed in this regard.

District Forest Officer Naresh Mahajan also confirmed that assessment of the trees was done and a report in this regard was submitted to the department concerned with a note that permission or permit, if needed, be applied to the departments concerned.

He said no further correspondence was made by the PWD regarding axing of trees. Despite repeated attempts, Rajinder Singh could not be contacted. — OC