Finally, cops book RLDA, Keystonefor chopping 150 trees in Ajni van

Nagpur: An offence was registered against the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) and its Chhattisgarh-based Keystone Infra Build Global Civil Project Private Limited for violating tree felling norms while chopping 150 trees, including 96 heritage trees and one trimmed Neem tree between April 20 and 23 at the Ajni railway quarters which is part of the extended Ajni van area. The trees were cut along the railway track and C-line to facilitate the proposed Ajni railway station redevelopment plan.

The offence, under relevant section of the Maharashtra (Urban areas) tree protection and reservation Act, was registered at Imambada police station.

Though the green crusaders had twice approached Imambada police with evidence of tree felling, the cops had delayed action, stating the case was still ‘sub-judice’ as the high court had already been hearing a petition by the Swacch Foundation opposing the proposed depletion of the extended green cover of Ajni van at the expense of the trees, some of which labelled ‘heritage’ with their age said to be more than 100 years.

The cops decided to file the FIR after the high court asked the government for the reason behind delays in registering the offence.

The court, which has already issued notices to the concerned departments, including the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, is now slated to hear the case again post-vacation on June 9.

The court had also extended interim relief to the petitioners by directing the authorities to stop work until further orders. It had also asked RLDA and its private contractor to explain their stand as to why action cannot be initiated against them. The petitioner had claimed before the court that the RLDA and its private contractor did not seek prior permission from the Maharashtra tree authority or the Nagpur Municipal Corporation before chopping and trimming trees at Ajni van.

The green crusaders, who had also filed a PIL in the past against destruction of Ajni van to save the city from its devastating environmental impact, had been united against the proposed development plan at the expense of the lush green cover.

A joint survey in the past stated that the land had almost 4,930 trees including some heritage ones.

The national highway authorities of India (NHAI) had to scrap its intermodal station (IMS) project at Ajni van following a huge uproar by the green vigilant activists. A ‘Save Ajni van’' campaign too had picked pace to stall the project.

The latest announcement of a multimodal transport hub, almost at the same place where the IMS was opposed, had once again revived the protest and litigation revolving around the cover expressing concern over the development destroying city’s much-needed green cover.

The announcement of the latest project with malls, commercial complexes, entertainment hubs and so on has ignited yet another round of furore now with greens joining hands to revive yet another episode of protests and agitations. The mega project plan would require substantial land from Nagpur central jail, Food Corporation of India, Government Medical College and Hospital and Irrigation Colony.

The protesters had also handed over a letter to deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis last week expressing their opposition.