Concrete-clad trees: MC, Glada, LIT chiefs summoned by court

Ludhiana: In the ongoing case of removal of concrete bases up to 1m around trees in the city, a local court has directed the municipal corporation (MC) to attach the salaries of all four of its executive engineers, besides asking the MC commissioner to appear before the court personally in the next hearing.
The court has issues these orders as neither the executive engineers, nor any other officer on behalf of the MC was present in the last hearing. The chairman of Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) and the administrator of Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (Glada) have also been told to appear in the next hearing. Besides, the concerned officials of both the bodies have been directed to file affidavits in the court in the next hearing, stating that they have removed the concrete bases from around the trees in their respective jurisdictions.
The applicant Kapil Arora had submitted in a plea that the MC had not complied with the orders of this court since last 2-3 hearings. He had alleged that even in the ongoing works, the MC had fixed interlocking tiles in the restricted area of 1m around the base of the trees, in violation of the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The court had asked the executive engineers of the four zones to file affidavits and give undertakings that no amount would be released to the contractors till further order of the court.
Till then, it is being clarified in the court that the contractors are not being paid for affixing the interlocking tiles in the said restricted area. However no one had appeared before the court on behalf of the MC.
The court, in its orders, mentioned that salaries of all the four executive engineers of the MC should be attached till further order of the court and intimation in this regard should be given to the concerned DDO.
The court has also ordered to procure the presence of the four executive engineers through bailable warrants in the sum of Rs 5,000 each, with one surety in the like amount for February 1. The MC commissioner, LIT chairman and Glada administrator have all been directed to be present in the court on February 1.
Meanwhile, the forest range officer (FRO) filed the final compliance report with regard to existing trees in the district, where the trees with concrete up to 1m around the base have also been mentioned. There are thousands such trees and the concrete around them needs to be removed.
An activist Kuldeep Singh Khaira claimed the DFO had sent a letter to the MC and Glada to provide information regarding roads, parks, wards/colonies falling under their jurisdictions, but both the departments had failed to give details.
More than 3,000 such trees alone are located in BRS Nagar and Saheed Bhagat Singh Nagar where concrete base is still visible around them.