Hyderabad High Court on Monday passed an order staying the felling of trees on Mallepally-Nagarjuna Sagar road in Nalgonda district as part of pipeline laying works following a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by a lawyer.
A division bench of the HC comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice S.V. Bhatt also directed the officials not to make any payments to the contractor executing the pipeline works till further orders were issued. Staying the works for four weeks, the bench directed the government, Engineer-in-Chief of Roads and Buildings department, Principal Secretary of Forest department and the Chief Conservator of Forests to file counter affidavits. The bench issued notices to the contractor and sub-contractor instructing them to appear before during next hearing.
In his petition, the lawyer presented to the bench that he noticed that trees, some of them as old as 50 years, were being felled for pipeline works on the Mallepally-Nagarjunasagar road. He said this was not only violation of the Water, Land and Tree Act (WALTA) but also amounted to irreparable damage to the environment.