Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Monday said that the Lieutenant Governor (LG) should resign from his post for ordering illegal felling of 1100 trees in the Satbari ridge area for road widening. Based on the affidavit of the contractor who felled the trees on the road, now bare evidence has come to light that shows the complicity of the LG and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) officers under him, he added.
Addressing media persons here today, senior AAP leader and cabinet minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Today, I am accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that the LG appointed by them got about 1100 trees felled from the forests of Delhi illegally. This is not just an allegation in air, I am presenting it with documentary evidence . I am inviting the LG and the LG’s office to clear their stand on the proofs presented by me. I am openly challenging LG saab for an open discussion or consider this an invitation. Stop planting news in newspapers on the issue of these trees, come out openly and tell.”
He continued that today, for the first time, we are presenting that proof in front of you and the proof is not just a paper, this is an affidavit of the company which had a contract with DDA , truth about felled trees. The affidavit was filed in the Supreme Court, and you cannot quote made-up things on an affidavit. The name of the contractor is Satya Prakash and Brothers Private Limited, the company that felled the trees.
Saurabh Bharadwaj read out the affidavit and stated that the contractor says, “We were given the work of construction on the road which is the approach road from Chhatarpur to SAARC University and Hospital and other establishments. The responsibility of this project was given to the engineer in-charge Manoj Kumar Yadav. We were told that the contractor will have to follow the oral and written orders given to him by Manoj Kumar Yadav, the engineer in-charge of DDA.” He added, ‘we used to get these written orders in form of these emails of DDA’. He has mentioned all the three email.
Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that on 7th February, the first email regarding these trees was received and it was written in that email that on 3rd February 2024, LG sir visited there and gave various directions. It is disclosed in the second email, on 14th February 2024, the contractor receives another email. This email has been sent by the engineer in-charge of DDA from his email ID to the contractor as well as to the chief engineer of DDA. It is not that the matter is going on at the lower level. The chief engineer of DDA has also been informed.
Reading out the affidavit, he said that the subject is ‘Hindrance with respect to existing trees’. Further, it is written that LG Delhi visited CAPFIMS (Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences) road on 3rd February, 2024, and directed to clear the trees coming in the ROW (right of way). The email clearly states that the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi visited there and ordered that all the trees coming in the way of the road should be felled. What bigger proof can you get than this? Delhi’s LG and BJP have been exposed. In the affidavit, it is written that during the process of felling the trees, forest officials did not let us cut the trees. Forest rangers came at the site and did not permit on account of non-approval from the competent authority.
“It is very clear that DDA knows that till 13th February, there is no permission from competent authority to cut trees. Forest department also knows that there is no permission. That is why the Ranger of the Forest department came there and stopped the work of felling the trees. This is what the Executive Engineer of DDA himself is writing to his Chief Engineer. So, when the LG sir came on 3rd February,there was no permission.It is obvious that when LG came on 3rd February, the Forest department and the DDA knew that there was no permission. They are saying that the trees were cut due to confusion, and nobody knew that there is no permission is a blatant lie,” stated the senior AAP leader.
Saurabh Bharadwaj continued that further it is written in the email that “But after perusal, they permitted us verbally to fell the trees from today, that is, on 14th February 2024. This is in the open, the BJP and Vinai Saxena sir, appointed by BJP, has been exposed in front of the whole Delhi. Their theft has been caught. This email is telling that the trees were cut on LG’s order. On 13th February 2024, the forest ranger of the forest department came and stopped them saying that you do not have permission, you cannot fell the trees and on 14th February 2024, something happened that the forest department verbally said you can cut the trees. What does it mean when there is no permission, but you can cur trees? Because there is pressure from higher authorities.
“It has come to the fore now that this is the situation of the forests inside the capital of India, on whom the Supreme Court has a direct eye. The Supreme Court has ordered that if even a single tree is cut in these forests, the permission of the tree officer and Supreme Court has to be taken. Neither the permission of the Tree officer nor the permission of the Supreme Court was taken , DDA knows, the Chief Engineer knows, the Forest Department knows, the LG knows, and these trees were still felled on the orders of the LG,” said Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Challenging the LG, he stated, “I am inviting LG sir. You can choose the place, the time, the date. I am challenging you in front of the media, you come and debate, do not hide behind the walls of the LG House, Vinai Saxena ji. The people of Delhi are asking you questions, the elected government of Delhi is asking you questions. The elected minister of Delhi is asking you questions. The illegality you have committed has been caught. You misled the court; you have been caught. You have misled Delhi; you have been caught today.”
The senior AAP leader asserted that today, both BJP and LG Vinai Saxena have been exposed in front of the entire Delhi. They knowingly got the trees felled and they thought who can do anything to them. All the officers are in their pockets. The officers do not have the courage to tell LG about the illegal work that ‘Sir, this is illegal work. Permission is not yet received, how will we cut the trees?’
Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that the Chief Secretary was with the LG; MCD commissioner, who was the divisional commissioner at that time, Ashwani Kumar was with the LG; Principal Secretary of PWD A. Anbarasu and Principal Secretary of Forest A.K. Singh was with the LG, DDA member engineering Ashok Kumar Gupta was with the LG, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, who is the chief conservator of forests, was with him. Top bureaucracy of Delhi was with the LG and no one had the courage to tell the LG that trees will not be felled illegally.
“When this is the condition of top officers , what will happen to Delhi? The enemy of Delhi is BJP, it is felling trees one by one. The biggest enemy of Delhi is the LG, who is getting trees cut illegally on the ridge, which is called the lungs of Delhi. He is getting trees cut secretly, pressurizing the officers and getting trees felled by deceiving the Supreme Court. The LG should resign today on immediate basis because he has been exposed in front of Delhi. His theft has been caught,” the senior AAP leader concluded.