Parliament panel asks govt to revisit tree cutting policies

NEW DELHI: Emphasising strict and time-bound action to deal with the growing menace of air pollution in Delhi, a parliamentary panel on Tuesday asked the government to further step up its efforts to deal with the crisis and suggested revisiting policies where it allows cutting down of trees for development works in the capital. Insisting that “worst situations demand stringent solutions”, it also asked the Centre to take strict measures to phase out the “polluting vehicles at the earliest”.

In the backdrop of recent protests of Delhiites over the move to cut down trees due to redevelopment of several government housing colonies, the panel recommended that the project proponents of these development projects should be requested to submit revised proposals with minimal requirement of tree felling.

The parliamentary standing committee on environment and forests said efforts should be directed at minimum felling of trees at the planning stage itself whenever any development or re-development project comes up in future.

The committee’s report has referred to several other instances where the government has allowed felling of trees for redevelopment of Pragati Maidan Complex and for Integrated Transit Corridor Development Plan along Mathura Road among others.

The report, tabled in the both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, also took note of vehicular emission, landfill sites, construction activities, crop residue burning, road dust and fire crackers and asked the government for coordinated action.

Referring to the issue of municipal waste, the report said, “The Committee is unhappy to note the existing capacity of the government of NCT of Delhi to treat the municipal solid waste scientifically is just about 54% of the total requirement, leaving a gap of 46% to be bridged.”

Stating that the apathy of the civic bodies entrusted with the task of management of municipal solid waste is totally unwarranted, it said, “The laissez-faire of the civic bodies of Delhi also gets reflected in the fact that the height of Ghazipur landfill site has reached as high as 65 metres which is just 8 metres less than the height of the national monument Qutub Minar.”

On the issue of burning of crop residue which severely impacts air quality in the capital during post-harvest period in October-November, the Committee expressed its strong reservations towards the failure of the state governments in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in implementing the statutory ban on stubble burning in letter and spirit.

“The Committee is of the opinion that weak enforcement of the statutory ban (on crop burning) by these state governments coupled with laxity towards the sensitivity and gravity of the matter has also adversely affected the ongoing efforts to tackle the issue of air pollution in Delhi and NCR,” said the report.

On the issue of vehicular pollution, the committee recommended that the ministry of environment in consultation with ministry of road, transport and highways along with the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises should “chalk out a mechanism for phasing out of the polluting vehicles at the earliest.”