Get FIR filed against forest officials for 'damaging' property: Ludhiana Mayor to MC chief

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 12

Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu has written to the MC Commissioner to get an FIR registered against the Forest Department officials concerned for allegedly damaging property at the Waterfront site in Sarabha Nagar, here.

Citing NGT and a local court order, the Forest Department had dismantled concrete and other materials around trees at the Waterfront site on April 6. The NGT had earlier ordered the departments concerned to remove interlocking tiles or concrete within one meter of the radius of the trees.

Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu said the Forest Department damaged those properties which were not even violating the NGT orders due to which MC’s project suffered financial loss while the public faced inconveniences.

Sandhu said the work order for the Sidhwan Canal Waterfront project was issued in August 2019 after getting a ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) from the Canal Department and approval from the State-Level Technical Committee and Board of Directors of Ludhiana Smart City Limited.

He said the Forest Department had not issued any notice or shared information with the MC before taking action at the Waterfront site. He claimed the works at the site were carried out after taking ‘NOC’ from the department concerned.

Notably, AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi also called a meeting of MC and Forest Department officials to be held on Wednesday at MC’s Zone D. After seeing the damaged property at the project site recently, Gogi had announced that the responsibility of the officials would be fixed after verifying documents in the Wednesday meeting.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Harbhajan Singh said no ‘NOC’ was taken from the Forest Department for the Waterfront project. As per state government’s notification, the area on the sides of the canal was protected forest area. Thus, the NOC was required to be obtained from the Forest Department. In February, a court ordered the appointment of the DFO for implementation of the NGT orders regarding removal of interlocking tiles or concrete within one meter of the radius of the trees.

Work order issued after getting NOC, says Mayor

Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu said the work order for the Sidhwan Canal Waterfront project was issued in August 2019 after getting a ‘no objection certificate’ (NOC) from the Canal Department and approval from the State-Level Technical Committee and Board of Directors of Ludhiana Smart City Limited.

MC, forest officials to meet today

AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi also called a meeting of MC and Forest Department officials to be held on Wednesday at MC’s Zone D. After seeing the damaged property at the project site recently, Gogi had announced that the responsibility of the officials would be fixed after verifying documents in the meeting to be held on Wednesday.

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