A plea of cutting off 1300 trees turned down by the Chandigarh Administration.

A plea of cutting off 1300 trees turned down by the Chandigarh Administration

Since the tender for the redevelopment of Chandigarh Railway Station to make it 'world-class' was passed in December 2022, the plans are in full swing as the deadline for the project is April 2024.

Because of this, RLDA asked for the chopping of 1300 trees including the majority of eucalyptus. However, this request was denied by the UT Forest Department. They have asked the authorities to request only after the railways approve the Environment Management Plans.

It was informed that the trees are to be chopped off to make space for other facilities which will improve the quality of the railway station and be comparable to international airports and make it world-class. In the provisional management plan, it was however already stated that planting 5 times the number of trees that will be chopped along with proper segregation of waste must be done.

Apart from this, the permission for cutting down trees was granted earlier for three consecutive years but no development work was started at that time now the request will be reconsidered only after the authorities will come up with improved management plans.

Report by Arpita

Graphics by Tarun Gaur