‘Ghaziabad authorities responsible for dying forests’

GHAZIABAD - The only forest area in Ghaziabad, which serves as the city’s green lungs, are dying a slow death due to mismanagement by the civic agencies that let it decay into a garbage dump, leading to the destruction of thousands of trees, says a report by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The district administration and the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, which ironically developed the forest area called Sai Upvan over 200 acres at a cost of Rs.4 crore, are responsible for its destruction, says the ministry report available with IANS.

Enquiring into reports by environmental groups and NGOs of 7,000 trees being completely destroyed and over 30,000 partially damaged in Sai Upvan, the ministry found “serious irregularities” on the part of municipal corporation and district forest department in protecting the green area.

In a detailed report, the ministry says that the area has been “badly mismanaged” as trees have been felled at several places, vast areas of Sai Upvan are “submerged in sewage water” while a huge part of it has been converted into a garbage dumping ground.

The trees left are also on the verge of dying, the report states.

The regional wing of the Ministry of Environment and Firests (MOEF) in Lucknow, which conducted a site survey of Sai Upvan in August last year, also noticed massive forest fires as garbage is burnt in the open. It added that the forest patch was also used for grazing by cattle.

The ministry, however, said the exact number of trees destroyed in the area would have to be verified through remote sensing equipment.

The report by the environment ministry comes down heavily on the city authorities, holding municipal corporation officials responsible for the illicit tree felling and extensive pollution, while saying that the “district forest department had no control over the area”.

“The damage in Sai Upvan is massive. Trees are destroyed by the local authorities in a planned manner. The precision in counting the exact number of trees is to be done by remote sensing,” an MOEF official said on condition of anonymity.

Developed during 2002-2005, Sai Upvan boasted of 200,000 trees, including fruit varieties and those with medicinal properties like peepal, neem, jamun, pilkhan, kanakgandha, amaltas, guava, mango and Kathal.

Demanding strict action against officials responsible for the the widespread destruction of the Sai Upvan forest, social activist and municipal councillor Rajendra Tyagi said: “In the country’s forest laws, an FIR can be lodged for cutting a single tree. In this case, thousands of trees have been destroyed from the only forest area of city due to the laxity of corrupt officials, who should be brought to book.”

Tyagi accused Mayor Damyanti Goel and former municipal commissioner Ajay Shanker Pandey for silently getting an eco-park proposal passed in the area.

“First they converted a forest area into dumping ground and then they came up with an eco-park proposal. We want the old forest to be redeveloped. An eco-park can come up at 110 different parks anywhere in the city,” the councillor said.

(S.P. Singh can be contacted at spsinghgzb@yahoo.co.in)