Our Correspondent Ludhiana July 11 The Council of Engineers (CoE) through its president Kapil Arora has served a legal notice a statutory requirement as per the NGT Act 2010 on the Chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) for non-compliance of orders made by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in a petition against concretisation within one metre radius around trees by various government departments including the LIT. It has been stated in the notice that as per the NGT orders the departments concerned were responsible to prevent the damage of the root system of the trees by leaving open space of one metre around tree trunks wherever possible while construction of pavements or roads to facilitate percolation of water to the roots. “The open area should be levelled with earth or soil and grass may be planted wherever it is possible. The trees which are already concretised should be de-concretised manually without damaging their roots. Further those trees which have died due to the concretisation should be replaced with suitable tree species” said the directions issued by the NGT in the petition. Arora asserted that he personally visited the office of the LIT Chairman on March 15 and submitted a copy of the orders (dated March 10 2021). However the orders had not been implemented and interlocking tiles are continued to be fixed around trees at several places in the city without leaving one metre space around them. In the notice the LIT has been charged with deliberately violating the directions of the NGT by continuing with the act of covering the tree bottom even after March 10 or March 15 2021 – when orders of the NGT were submitted in the office of the LIT Chairman. It has also been pointed out that the way of rainwater to the trees was restricted by fixing roadside pavers around them. “As a result many trees have already fallen due to damage done to their roots while digging around their base for fixing interlocking tiles and roots of many other trees have also been badly damaged during the process. By such an act the LIT has not only wasted public money but has also severely damaged the environment which is against provisions of the Environment Protection Act 1986” it alleged. Through the notice the petitioner has called upon the LIT to take immediate steps within the next 10 days to comply with the NGT orders (dated March 10 2021) in letter and in spirit failing which the petitioner would be free to file appropriate proceedings for imposition of heavy penalty on you in the interest of justice.

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