The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday took to streets, and staged a protest against the tree felling in an eco-sensitive zone of the national capital, Satbari, allegedly on orders of Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena.
In a display of defiance, the AAP formed a human chain in a protest against the Delhi L-G and the BJP, and carried replicas of trees and axes, voicing their outrage through slogans.
Delhi Minister and senior AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj who took part in the protest, alleged that the L-G’s order of mass tree felling during a visit on February 3, was to benefit farmhouse owners at the expense of the environment.
Bharadwaj further said: “The Supreme Court has been repeatedly asking the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on whose orders it cut down 1100 trees illegally. But the DDA officers were busy concealing the truth behind this. On February 3rd, Delhi Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, PWD Secretary Anbarasu, Principal Secretary (Environment) AK Singh, Divisional Commissioner Ashwani Kumar, and many other senior officers had gone to the Ridge area with the L-G.”
“Despite this, none of them told the Supreme Court that the LG visited the Ridge area and gave verbal instructions to cut the trees,” Bharadwaj claimed.
The Delhi Minister further claimed that it has become clear in front of the apex court that the order to cut down the trees was given by the L-G, which is clearly evident from two emails from DDA officials.
Pointing out at an alleged conspiracy in this matter, Bharadwaj said that the trees of the Ridge area were deliberately brought down to widen the road, whereas the land of the farmhouses on the other side of the road could also have been taken for this, he added.
“If they had taken about 5-10 per cent of land from every farmhouse, then the road could have been widened without harming the trees but instead of doing this, the trees of the Ridge were cut to benefit the owners of the farmhouses. This has become absolutely clear to everyone. The approved design for widening the road is still present on the website of the Unified Traffic And Transportation Infrastructure (Planning & Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC), the minister said.
“This clearly shows that a lot of irregularities have been done in the felling of the trees,” Bharadwaj shared further.
Speaking on the occasion, AAP MLA from Wazirpur, Delhi, Rajesh Gupta said that trees are voiceless, but they have life, they breathe and also give oxygen to all living beings.
A tree gives fruits, oxygen and shade to three generations. Everyone knows that the pollution situation in North India is extremely bad, he added.
Meanwhile, several party members, and leaders including Rajesh Gupta, Reena Gupta and Adil Ahmad Khan, took part in the protest.