Coming down heavily on the Chandigarh administration, Justice (retd) Mehtab Singh Gill who is also the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Punjab, said that “it is the administration that is at fault and an FIR should be lodged against them for this loss.” Justice Gill said there is a heritage tree near his house as well, across Carmel Convent School, and it has been six months that no one has been paying heed to his complaints.
“My house is just 25 yards from here and I have a 300-year-old heritage tree in front of my house. Its heavy branches are just tilting and it is risky. Six months back I had called up the officer in-charge, horticulture, and nobody has bothered,” Justice Gill said.
He added, “Now see this has happened. Around a year and a half ago, one branch of the peepal tree had come down and fallen on the other side. No one bothered then either. Most of it is almost on the road but no one bothered. So, the Chandigarh administration should stop blaming the school and blame its horticulture and forest departments”. Justice Gill said that a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide) be lodged against the administration. Speaking to The Indian Express, he said, “In places like Ooty, the Golden Temple, etc., heritage trees are preserved like pillars or iron rods have been put around them. Here, like the peepal tree in the school, the roots often come on to the road. Heritage is something the administration should look after.”
When Executive Engineer, Horticulture, Parvesh Sharma, was asked about the pending complaints about dangerous trees, he had said, “We keep disposing of complaints from our level the moment when we receive them.” When he was asked when was the last time he had inspected an old tree, he had said that there had been no inspection.
Gaps in UT admin’s 2017 order
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In 2017, an order issued by the then home secretary who was also then secretary Forests and Wildlife, Chandigarh administration, about heritage trees had said how directives were to be issued to institutions that house heritage trees. There were around 31 heritage trees in Chandigarh at the time.
The administration was quick enough to shrug off its responsibility saying that the order mentions “the departments/institutions with heritage trees on their premises shall be responsible for its protection, preservation and conservation in coordination with department of forests and wildlife Chandigarh” but it was also mentioned in the orders that “a separate advisory shall be issued by the department for maintenance of such heritage trees in Chandigarh.”
The order also states that “the engineering department UT Chandigarh and Municipal Corporation shall not cut or prune these heritage trees without prior approval of the Chandigarh administration” apart from the fact that “the department of tourism, Chandigarh, shall plan and organise heritage walk along these trees in order to educate and sensitise people.”
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