The Delhi government has cleared the decks for the construction of new Integrated Defence Staff Headquarters. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has approved the proposal in national interest allowing removal and transplantation of trees to clear land for construction of HQ IDS, Mehram Nagar, an official statement said here on Thursday.

The new Integrated Defence Staff Headquarters will come up soon in Delhi Cantt after Kejriwal’s intervention, the statement said. Through this decision, the CM has paved the way for the construction of the state of the art IDS complex that will house a new officers’ mess, and camp. The Union Ministry of Defence had sent a proposal to remove and transplant 114 trees to clear its construction site.

Kejriwal cleared the path for the project by approving the said proposal in national interest. He has approved the proposal against the condition of the Ministry of Defence taking up the transplantation of 60 existing trees and plantation of 1,140 new saplings as per the plan.

The Ministry of Defence has proposed the construction of the Integrated Defence Staff Headquarters in Mehram Nagar. However, certain patches of trees were obstructing the construction of the site. Thus, the Ministry through its officials, wrote a letter to the Delhi Government seeking approval for removal and transplantation of 114 trees to clear the site.

Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai placed the proposal regarding the same in front of the Chief Minister. Subsequently, the CM granted his approval for the same.

Given the importance of the modern infrastructure for the Indian Army, Kejriwal gave his nod to speed up the work by clearing the patch, in national interest. The approval will help the army in modernising its infrastructure and give them access to better facilities.

Approving the proposal, the CM has noted that it will be placed before the LG to decide whether he would like to invoke a difference of opinion, if any, under the proviso to Article 239 AA(4) of the Constitution of India read with Rule 47A of the Transaction of Business of GNCTD (Amendment) Rules, 2021. It is also mentioned that a time period of seven working days has been prescribed in the amended Rule 47A of the TBR, 2021 for the LG to record his views.

The Delhi government has further noted that out of the 114 trees, the Ministry will transplant 60 trees, while it will take up felling of only 54 trees. The transplantation will take place within the identified project site.

The Delhi government has further asked the Ministry to not damage a single tree at the site other than those that have been identified and approved by the government. If any tree apart from the approved ones is damaged, it shall constitute an offence under Delhi Preservation of Trees Act 1994.

The Delhi government has further made it mandatory for the Ministry of Defence to plant ten times the trees, in lieu of the removal and transplantation. Thus, they will now plant 1,140 new tree saplings, besides transplanting 52 per cent of the trees at the site.