The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: A report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) reveals that thousands of trees were cut in Uttar Pradesh to make way for a new Kanwar Yatra route “not as per rules” and without “final approval.
As per data provided by the public works department of Uttar Pradesh, a total of 17,607 trees have been felled in Ghaziabad, Meerut, and Muzaffarnagar districts to make way for the new 111-km Kanwar Yatra route, reported The Hindu.
Last year, a four-member joint committee was constituted by the NGT to ascertain whether trees were cut illegally for the project, with FSI being one of the members in it.
But the FSI’s report dated February 20 said its opinion was not included in a “final report” of the joint committee submitted to the NGT by the Meerut District Magistrate (DM).
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“Communication has been received from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change confirming that final approval has not been accorded to the project, as is necessary before any commencement of tree felling operations,” said the February 20 FSI report.
While the joint committee report said that it has not found any illegality in the felling of trees, on January 20, the NGT noted that the committee report was not signed by FSI joint director Meera Iyer. The NGT said that she could submit a separate report in case her stand was different.
Iyer’s response filed on February 20 reiterated that the FSI’s opinion was not incorporated by the Meerut DM in the report submitted to the green panel.