New Delhi, Sep 30 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal on Monday formed a five-member joint committee to inquire into allegations of illegal tree felling in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier a petition had been filed by advocate Narendra Kumar Goswami seeking the tribunal’s cognisance on the alleged violation involving the illegal felling of more than 454 trees at Dalmia farms Chhatikara Vrindavan road in Mathura falling under TTZ on the night of September 18 and 19.
On Monday, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava formed a five-member joint committee to inquire into the matter by visiting the site and also directed it submit a report within two months, Goswami said.
The committee will comprise the representatives of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Lucknow regional office of the Union Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change and the state’s principal chief conservator of forests along with the director of Forest Survey of India and the district magistrate of Mathura (nodal officer for coordination), he said.
The tribunal also comprising judicial member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert members A Senthil Vel and Afroz Ahmad noted the petitioner’s submissions of “there being a collusion between the realtor who had cut the trees and the local authorities”, Goswami said.
The matter has been posted for further proceedings on January 22.
The plea filed on September 23 also said that the “heinous act of deforestation has led to the tragic demise of hundreds of snakes, peacocks and turtles” who were “mercilessly killed during the clearing operation”.
“The loss of such vital flora and fauna not only breached statutory environmental protections but also undermined the ecological sanctity of the sacred land of Vrindavan,” the plea said. PTI MNR MNR RT RT
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