NOIDA: The DND Flyway management has paid a fine of Rs 4 lakh to the district forest department for illegally pruning 46 trees to improve the visibility of hoardings along the stretch. The operator has also urged the forest department to withdraw its complaint to police.TOI had on February 1 reported that a case was filed against the flyway operator after the district forest department carried out an inspection and found largescale pruning of trees along the stretch. The FIR was registered at Sector 20 police station under sections 4 and 10 of the Uttar Pradesh Protection of Trees in Rural and Hill Areas Act, 1976.Kitab Singh, range forest officer, said on Wednesday, “Sushant Jain, a manager of NTBCL, DND Flyway operator, has paid the compounding fee of Rs 4 lakh through a cheque. The company has requested us to withdraw the police complaint in this case.” Singh said the state trees protection act has provisions of reconciliation after the compounding fee is collected from the violator. “We will write to Noida police and inform about the matter. We will initiate a proceeding to withdraw the case,” he said.The forest department had initially sent Dadri range officer DK Goyal for spot inspection after getting a complaint of tree pruning from an environment activist, Vikrant Tongad. Goyal, however, filed a fake report, claiming there was no pruning. However, further investigations revealed there was pruning and the official was suspended.

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