Delhi govt approves removal of 96 trees for railway building in Delhi

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has approved a proposal to remove and transplant 96 trees for the construction of a multi-storey residential building of the Western Railway at Arakpur Bagh Mochi in Delhi.

However, none of the 96 trees will be felled and all of them will be transplanted at a site selected near Shakurbasti, a statement from the Chief Minister's Office said.

Kejriwal cleared the path for the project by approving the proposal of the Northern Railway in national interest, the statement said.

The CM has approved the proposal against the condition that the Northern Railway take up the transplantation of 96 existing trees and plantation of 960 new saplings as per the plan, it added.

"The Delhi government had received a request from the Northern Railway to transplant 96 trees out of a total of 162 trees at the location near Moti Bagh. A joint inspection of the project site was carried out by concerned officials of the West Forest Division along with Northern Railway officials," said the statement.

A report on the matter was placed to the tree officer (deputy conservator of forest) of the West Forest Division, who cross-checked the information. As per the tree officer's undertaking, the total number of trees in the area is 162 and 96 of them have been proposed for transplantation.

The Delhi government has made it mandatory for the Northern Railway to plant ten times the number of trees that would be removed from the site of the building. These trees will be planted upon the identified land parcels within three months from the date on which the permission for shifting of the trees will be issued.

The Northern Railway will further take the responsibility of maintaining the trees for the next seven years, as per the Delhi government's guidelines.

As per the proposal approved by the Delhi government, various species of trees that suit the soil and climate of the national capital will be planted in lieu of the removal and transplantation of the trees. These include neem, amaltas, pipal, pilkhan, gular, bargad, desi kikar and arjun, among other species. These trees will be planted as saplings of six-eight feet in height on non-forest lands, the statement said.

As for the trees that have to be transplanted, the Northern Railway has been asked to start the process immediately after fulfilling requisite conditions, and complete it within six months, it said, adding the Northern Railway will further submit a report on the same to the tree officer for supervision.

The Delhi government has also asked the Northern Railway to not damage a single tree at the site other than those that have been identified and approved by the government. If any tree apart from the approved ones is damaged, it shall constitute an offence under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994, the statement s