‘600 logs found’ in Delhi Golf Club, govt files complaint
We categorically deny any wrongdoing in the matter; the case is an attempt to malign the reputation of the club.
A DELHI GOLF CLUB STATEMENT
NEWDELHI: The Delhi government on Tuesday filed a police complaint against the Delhi Golf Club for “illegally felling trees” inside the premises.
The AAP government filed the complaint at the Nizamuddin police station and demanded an FIR be registered in the matter.
Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain said a probe had been ordered after a club member complained about “large-scale felling of trees” inside club premises last week.
A four-day inspection conducted by the forest department following the complaint found that “425 logs were dug out from the club”, the government said. Following the discovery, Hussain said another set of 200 logs were discovered on Tuesday.
“The investigation in the matter will continue for at least 20 more days. The inspection was ordered after a complaint by the member of the club of large-scale felling of trees in its compound. The possibility of the number of trees cut could be much more, which however, needs to be investigated. It was only because the number of logs found was so high that the department insisted on police enquiry,” said Hussain.
Denying the allegations, the Delhi Golf Club in a statement said, “We have not seen the copy of the complaint filed with local authorities as yet. We categorically deny any wrongdoing in the matter; the case is an attempt to malign the reputation of the club and an effort to wrongly implicate its governing authorities.”
Delhi has already witnessed citizens protests following the decision to cut at least 14,000 trees in seven south Delhi neighbourhoods. The matter is now pending in courts.
A senior forest department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said pictures gathered from the Delhi Golf Club showed these trees were short in height and had been removed from the roots. “Even if the logs we found were cut into pieces, it still means a large number of trees were cut,” the official said.
The minister had ordered the department to submit an inspection report on the tree felling in the Delhi Golf Club on the directions of the chief minister, according to a statement issued by the Delhi government.
However, till the filing of this report, Delhi Police officials said they were “examining if the police is empowered to take action in the matter.” A meeting on the issue was going on till late on Tuesday night at the office of the DCP (southeast).
“The inspection team made a site visit to the club and submitted its report. The report confirmed that pits were being dug and logs of several sizes were being dumped in it. It further said, logs already dug out manually from the pits are numbered and lying at the site,” it said.