Cutting 1,300 trees for unity statue in MP’s Omkareshwar is illegal: NGT

The National Green Tribunal has said that the Cutting of around 1,300 trees by a trust in the course of the construction of the Unity Statue near Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh was “illegal”.

The court also noted that the felling of trees required the permission of the Union government and superseded state laws on the subject.

A bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said that it is clear from the inquiry report of the joint committee constituted through the bench that the permission to cut about 1300 trees was given through the SDO under the State Act.

The bench said we found permission to cut trees totally illegal under Section 2 of the Forest (Conservation Act), 1980. Proper permission from the Center is needed to cut trees. The order of the SDO cannot be above the order of the Center.

Court said that felling trees is illegal, it is necessary to ensure adequate compensation and forestry work for this work. The bank said that the project work also needs to be done very carefully to save the submerged area of Narmada. In particular, the disposal of manure must be under the rules and regulations.

The green panel said that proper sanitary conditions, such as sewage and solid waste management, should be maintained and should be properly supervised by the state pollution control board (PCB).

“Visitors or tourists may only allow electric motor vehicles and compensatory afforestation must include the planting of indigenous tree species that must be geotagged,” the court said.

The NGT has said in its order that henceforth trees should not be cut without proper permission from the Centre. If trees are cut after legal permission, then forestry of native species of plants should be done in their place, which should be geo-tagged.

The bench also said in its order that the museum is dedicated to Adi Shankaracharya. In such a situation, special care should be taken for environmental standards, as well as biodiversity and medicinal plants should also be planted in the museum.

In this case, Janak Patla McGillan and others alleged that not only the work of digging for the Statue of Oneness is being done with heavy machinery, but also old and indigenous species of trees are being cut indiscriminately.

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