Feb 11, 2025 10:51 PM IST
The NGT has additionally requested the state and different respondents to submit an affidavit explaining why land can’t be acquired for compensatory afforestation inside a 10-km radius of the challenge website.
The principal bench of the Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Punjab state authorities to make all attainable efforts to amass land for guaranteeing compliance with plantation pointers for the Sirhind-Patiala highway widening challenge. The tribunal has additionally requested the state and different respondents to submit an affidavit explaining why land can’t be acquired for compensatory afforestation inside a 10-km radius of the challenge website.
The principal bench of the Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Punjab state authorities to make all attainable efforts to amass land for guaranteeing compliance with plantation pointers for the Sirhind-Patiala highway widening challenge. (HT Picture)
The matter, introduced earlier than the NGT by Er Kapil Arora and Jaskirat Singh of the Public Motion Committee (PAC), raised considerations over the state’s failure to stick to necessary pointers prescribed below the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) Codes, together with IRC SP: 21-2009 (Landscaping & Plantation Tips) and IRC SP: 84-2019 (Requirements for 4-Lane Freeway Upgradation).
In line with the petitioners, regardless of buying forest land and commencing tree felling for the widening of the Sirhind-Patiala Street, the Public Works Division (PWD) and Forest Division have didn’t make provisions for necessary plantation throughout the prescribed limits. The state allegedly plans to hold out compensatory afforestation in Ropar and Hoshiarpur—80 km and 120 km away from the challenge website—reasonably than throughout the required 10-km vary.
Environmental activists Kuldeep Singh Khaira and Dr Amandeep Singh Bains highlighted that land for tree plantation ought to have been factored into the land acquisition plans from the outset, as per IRC codes. They argued that landscaping and afforestation ought to be an integral a part of the challenge’s design and finances. The failure to conform, they warned, may result in elevated air and noise air pollution in Fatehgarh Sahib and Patiala.
In the course of the listening to, the PWD (B and R) Division claimed that there was no out there land for tree plantation. Nevertheless, PAC representatives countered this argument by stating that 85% of the challenge’s stretch passes by agricultural land, which might be acquired for afforestation.
After listening to arguments from either side, the NGT noticed that the PWD (B and R) Division has failed to offer data of any efforts made to amass land for afforestation. It famous that no justification has been introduced explaining why land can’t be acquired to adjust to the necessary pointers. The Punjab authorities has been given 4 weeks to file an affidavit clarifying its place on land acquisition for plantation. Within the meantime, state authorities should make all attainable efforts to amass land and guarantee compliance with the rules.
The petitioners expressed hope that the authorities would adjust to the NGT’s instructions earlier than the following listening to on April 25.
Really useful Subjects Information / Cities / Chandigarh / Sirhind-Patiala highway widening challenge : Purchase land to make sure compliance with plantation pointers: NGT
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