Greens to forest dept: Think before giving nod to axe trees

Noida: Environmentalists on Wednesday expressed concern over heavy felling and tree cutting in Noida. In a letter issued to the district forest officer (DFO) of Gautam Budh Nagar, the environmentalists claimed that in separate instances, the trees are either being totally cut off or going through excessive trimming which are detrimental to the environmental and ecological well-being of the city.
“Over the past few weeks, we have noticed the trees being cut at sectors 123, 22 and 34. While some of the trees have been cut with the permission of the DFO, others have been felled without the requisite permission of the forest department,” said Vikrant Tongad, the founder of Social Action for Forest and Environment (SAFE).
“In Sector 22, a school has taken forest department’s permission to cut down over 20 trees. We’ve requested the department to be more judicious about who they are granting permission because cutting down full-grown trees in summers is hazardous,” said Tongad.
However, the forest department said that most of the requests for pruning or cutting down of trees are granted permission if they pose security risks. “Some felling is required when the trees interfere with the electrical wiring and larger security concerns need to be addressed. At other times, when a request is taken for cutting down the trees for the sake of development work, we do allow the same provided all compensatory action is taken along with it,” said an official at the district forest department.
When TOI contacted the DFO, P K Srivastava regarding the matter, he said, “We have stayed the permission for tree cutting at Sector 22. Any complaint for unauthorised tree cutting is being addressed immediately,” said the official.
Meanwhile, Tongad urged the residents to opt for construction designs which include trees so that less trees have to be cut down.