NOIDA: The
forest department of Gautam Budh Nagar has stopped all tree-felling activity at the designated
eco-park area of Sector 91, in order to conduct an on-ground audit of the trees already cut. All permissions granted to the Noida Authority for tree cutting have also been stalled for the time being, officials said.
The forest department had initially granted permission for cutting of 3,000 eucalyptus trees for the purpose of clearing space for the upcoming eco-park. An additional felling of 1,000 trees was also sanctioned recently. According to officials, the trees were mature and aged between 25 and 30 years, and should have ideally been cut 15 years ago as the maturity period for an eucalyptus tree is about 10 years.
“Forest
department officials have been employed to carry out an audit of the trees cut till now at the park area. We’ll assess how many trees have been cut so far and if any tree has been wrongly cut. Following this audit, we’ll take a decision whether the felling exercise will be further permitted,” AK Srivastav, district forest officer told TOI.
The department said eucalyptus has been known for their erosive effect on groundwater levels. Noida Authority, which is at the helm of converting the area into an ecology park, has already granted sanction for the plantation of 5,000 local variety fruit trees and one lakh shrubs.
Officials from the horticulture department said that the plantation work would be executed within six months.
The decision to cut 3,000 eucalyptus trees was met with protests
