Public Action Committee accuses MC of protecting accused in tree felling case

Members of the Public Action Committee (PAC) today held a peaceful protest in front of the MC office in Sarabha Nagar against deliberate inaction by the Municipal Commissioner as well as Horticulture Department to allegedly save the accused involved in the axing of a 25 to 30 years old native tree, which was coming in the way of a restaurant.

Kuldeep Singh Khaira and Gurpreet Singh informed that information about the axing of the tree was given to the Municipal Commissioner as well as the Junior Engineer (JE) on Saturday along with relevant sections of BNS. “Neither was any action taken nor any FIR lodged against those responsible for axing the tree, which shows that it was not possible without the connivance of MC officials,” said Arora.

Dr Amandeep Singh Bains and Gagnish Khurana informed that Punjab has come up with a Tree Preservation Policy that does not have any provision for offences pertaining to environmental laws and has only included action under the BNS which is a mere eyewash as BNS 2023 doesn’t include offences for damage to environment. Such a policy is just trash as it doesn’t provide any provision for the public to move the NGT, complained the PAC members.

Engineers Jaskirat Singh and Kapil Arora informed that there have been many such incidents of axing of trees in BRS Nagar only and the authorities concerned had failed to register even a single FIR against the accused despite their identification.

Ludhiana