Notify inclusion of environmental & forest expert in UTTIPEC: NGT to DDA

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal today directed the Vice Chairman of Delhi Development Authority to ensure issuance of notification stating that an environmentalist and a forest expert or official shall be part of UTTIPEC which gives go ahead to developmental projects.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar gave the DDA three weeks time to issue the notification while disposing of a petition seeking that forest department or environment ministry should be consulted while planning developmental projects.

"Counsel for DDA and Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) submits that UTTIPEC is a section of DDA itself and that a decision has been taken that UTTIPEC, henceforth, would have an environmentalist and a very senior official from the Forest Department or a private person having expertise in forest matters, while considering development projects.

"Petition is disposed of with clear direction to the Vice Chairman of DDA to ensure issuance of notification in this regard within three weeks," the bench said.

The petitioner Aditya Prasad in his plea had sought directions to UTTIPEC to "take the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and the Forest and Wildlife departments of the Delhi government on board while planning and implementing projects so that the destruction to the environment can be mitigated".

Prasad had said in his plea that due to the "blatant disregard" for environmental laws and guidelines by civic authorities, the environment is being "irreparably damaged".

He had said in his plea that there has been "continuous and illegal felling of trees by the authorities on the pretext of development and modernisation of the capital region."