This story is from December 24, 2021

Conduct Tree Census in Vasant Vihar: HC

Conduct Tree Census in Vasant Vihar: HC
New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered a tree census in Vasant Vihar while taking stock of the progress made in deconcretisation of trees.
Justice Najmi Waziri asked Delhi government’s PWD and forest department to coordinate and prepare a log book, having each tree numbered.
HC’s direction came after reviewing the work by Delhi government and SDMC. The court was unhappy to note that, till now, its order to SDMC’s engineers to traverse Vasant Vihar colony on wheelchairs to test if pavements and footpaths were user-friendly had not been implemented.
“What is the difficulty? Is it beneath your officers to use the wheelchair? If that is so, you have a poor opinion of the disabled.
Court has passed a specific order,” Justice Waziri told the counsel for the corporation. HC made it clear that it expected immediate enforcement of the order.
Meanwhile, Delhi government informed the court that representatives of SDMC and PWD had assured the forest department they were ensuring that a space of 1x1 metre was left around the trees. It has also been directed that the joint inspection of trees be conducted and the report contain block/streetwise number of trees concretised by the residents of the area and those concretised by SDMC and PWD, along with GPS-tagged photographs so that remedial steps could be taken.

The government said it had directed SDMC and PWD to undertake the exercise of numbering the unnumbered trees so that the exercise of deconcretisation could be carried out efficiently.
The forest department informed the court that trees from Modi Mill to IGI Airport (Outer Ring Road) and the Vasant Vihar residential area were being continuously watered and washed. The work is also being extended routinely to other parts of Delhi.
“Additionally, with respect to the trees under the jurisdiction of PWD that have been deconcretised in Vasant Vihar, the area around these trees is also being revitalised, including by planting grass and plants,” the government submitted.
The court acknowledged the efforts made by SDMC and PWD for the work undertaken by them in last four weeks and appreciated the same after going through the status reports. It, however, pulled up Delhi Police, saying there had been no compliance of its direction to remove cars parked on footpaths to improve public access. It directed the police to videograph its removal drive and submit a report.
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