Forest dept finds 150 trees buried at rail project site

THE FOREST DEPT BEGAN EXCAVATION LAST THURSDAY IN ORDER TO FIND EVIDENCE OF TREE FELLING ON SITE

NEW DELHI: The excavation work being carried out by the forest department at the site of the Bijwasan rail terminal project in Dwarka’s Sector 21, in order to find the ‘roots’ of trees allegedly felled by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), came to end on Tuesday, with the forest department concluding in its final report that around 150 trees were buried at the site. Although 100 of those trees were re-erected by forest officials, only 54 appeared to be still alive, the officials said.

In a rare move, the forest department began the excavation last Thursday in order to find evidence of tree felling allegedly by RLDA, which is working on an airport-style makeover for the Bijwasan railway station.

A senior forest official, who worked on the compilation of the final report, said around 200 stumps have been found in a 1.3 hectare area of the 3 hectare project site. These are suspected to belong to around 150 trees, the official said. “Excavation work will now stop as the idea was to gather evidence and so far, enough evidence has been uncovered. Now, legal proceedings will be initiated, along with identifying the penalties that need to be imposed on RLDA,” said the official, on condition of anonymity.

Forest officials said around 100 trees have so far been re-erected in the hopes that they would take root and grow. “Of the 100 trees, 54 appear to still be alive... We are hopeful of seeing some recovery,” the official said.

The department said while the entire project site has not been dug up, an estimate will be drawn on the number of additional trees that may have been damaged, based on which the final penalty amount will be determined.

“Work can only resume once the fine amount is paid and corrective measures are undertaken,” the official added.

The issue of tree felling came to fore in January, when two locals filed a complaint with the Delhi Police and the forest department, alleging hundreds of trees had been cut at the project site without any permission from the forest department.

Subsequently, an inspection carried out by the forest department found 131 trees had been allegedly felled or damaged in the area, however, RLDA denied any knowledge of the same.

RLDA when contacted, said it began work from December 2021 onwards and was unaware of any trees damaged prior to them taking over. “No trees have been damaged by us since we began work in December 2021,” an official said, asking not to be named.