Govt complains against Golf Club for felling over 100 trees illegally

The Delhi Government has filed complaint with the Delhi police against the elite Delhi Golf Club for allegedly felling over 100 trees illegally on its premises.

 According to an official statement issued by Environment & Forest department , a complaint has been filed with the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station. Further, the Government through the Range Forest Officer and the South Forest Division demanded the police officials to register a First Information Report (FIR).

The complaint was filed on the basis of an inspection report of Forest Department officials who visited the spot thrice last week after an existing member alleged that the club fell over 100 trees without permission from authorities.

The Minister for Forest and Environment had ordered the department to submit an inspection report on the tree felling in the Delhi Gold Club on the directions of the Chief Minister,” said a statement from the Ministry of forest and Environment.

According to Forest Department, the inspection team during the examination had dug out a nearly 425 logs from the Delhi Golf Club premises. “The inspection team, comprising of four officials of the forest department, made a site visit to the club and submitted its report,”said the statement further.

The inspection 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 at the site are numbered and lying at the site.

“More pits are required to be dug out to get the exact/approximate number of logs or gravity of the offence which is beyond the capacity of the resource available with the Forest Department and the matter needs urgent registration of FIR and further investigation by police department,” said the Delhi Government in the complaint filed through Forest Department.

 Further, the complaint demanded FIR registration under violation of section 8 and section 23 of Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.