Hisac municipal corporation accused of submitting false affidavit in NGT

HISAR: An NGO, Jago India Jago, has alleged that Hisar municipal corporation (MC) and the public works department (PWD) submitted a false affidavit in their case filed in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for the removal of concrete and paver blocks installed around trees in the city.
The municipal commissioner refuted the charge.
Jitendra Arya, the founder of Jago India Jago, said in December 2019, a complaint was given to the NGT to remove the concrete and paver blocks around the trees in Hisar city.
Taking cognizance of this, NGT constituted a committee of three departments in which forest department, MC and pollution control board (PCB) were involved.
The PCB was appointed as the nodal agency regarding compliance of orders and to report on the status of trees, he said.
Arya said the MC wrote a letter on February 25, 2020, through PCB, to the NGT and claimed that they removed 40% concrete and paver blocks from the trees. The PWD building and roads department also claimed in its letter that 90% trees are as per the NGT guidelines and the remaining 10% work will be done soon, he said
“On March 18, 2020, the MC told NGT that in compliance with the orders of the court, concrete and paver blocks around trees had been removed and orders of the NGT will be followed in future. NGT closed the case on March 19, 2020,” he said.
Arya said he had now filed a case against these departments under sections 25 (execution), 26 (penalty for failure to comply with orders of Tribunal) and 28 (offences by government department) of the NGT Act for non-compliance and implementation of the orders of NGT. He claimed that these claimed were a lie.
However, municipal commissioner Ashok Kumar Garg said affidavit given in the NGT was correct. “Concrete and blocks are left around some trees, now orders have been given to remove them too,” he said.
Problem caused by paving pavement
The Hisar municipal corporation (MC) spent Rs 2.27 crore to pave the footpath in the city. While paving footpaths, concrete and paver blocks were laid around trees.