Senior AAP leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj has raised serious questions about the involvement of Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena in the illegal felling of trees in Satbari. Citing affidavits submitted by Delhi’s officers before the Supreme Court, the AAP leader suggested that the LG and senior officials were either complicit in or willfully ignorant of the illegal actions. He asserted that the trees were felled with the connivance of all involved, with officers now lying to protect the LG.
Revealing crucial facts from the Satbari Tree felling case, Senior AAP leader and Cabinet Minister in Delhi Government Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “For the last few days, the Supreme Court has been hearing a case regarding illegal felling of about 1100 trees in Satbari Ridge area of Delhi without permission. There was a lot of confusion about this issue.”
“I and my party (AAP) were constantly saying that LG Vinai Saxena himself had visited the tree felling site on 3 February 2024. When the court asked about this, it was misled by saying that LG Saab had not gone there, he had gone to visit the hospital. After that, the Supreme Court asked all the officers to file their affidavits. Some officers have filed affidavits but some officers are still considering it,” he added.
The AAP leader continued, “It is a matter of great shame that the officer’s affidavit contains only two to four lines that make some sense and the rest are all connected stories. If an affidavit has reached the Supreme Court, which has descriptively explained the whole matter, then you will be surprised that it is not an affidavit of an officer, it is of a contractor of DDA. It is the contractor who cut the trees on the orders of DDA. It is a matter of great shame for the entire bureaucracy that they are afraid of giving even a little explanation in this matter to the apex court of the country.”
Presenting the affidavits as evidence, Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Sunil Bakshi, says in his affidavit that LG reached the place and the direction to expedite the work were given by LG is written in it. DDA Member Engineering Ashok Kumar Gupta has also written in his affidavit that on 03/02/2024, LG, after completing his visit to the Central Armed Police Force Institute of Medical Science (CAPFIMS) Hospital, had a stop-over on CAPFIMS road where he reviewed the progress of the road work. “LG Saab was hiding this till date the fact that he went to this location, he went to the road ROW 1100 trees were to be cut to widen it, and he gave the direction that this road should be widened immediately,” he added.
The senior AAP leader further added that the Supreme Court said that it is certain that DDA got these trees cut and the DDA contractor cut these trees. The Supreme Court’s question makes a mockery of Delhi’s bureaucracy and LG’s office. The Supreme Court asks that when LG is present with all the senior officers including the Chief Secretary, PWD Secretary, Divisional Commissioner, Principal Secretary (Environment & Forests), Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, and DDA Engineering Member, did anyone tell LG Saab that two different types of permissions are required for cutting trees, first permission from the tree officer and the second from the Supreme Court. Did no one tell LG Saab about this?
“LG Vinai Saxena has been the LG of Delhi for more than 2 years. LG Saab writes 10-10 page letters to CM Sahab on petty matters. Does Vinai Saxena ji not know till now that permission from the tree officer and Supreme Court is required to cut trees in the forest? How is this possible? What kind of LG is he who does not know this? Everyone in Delhi knows that the permission of a tree officer is required to cut trees,” he affirmed.
Reading the Chief Secretary’s affidavit, Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that the Chief Secretary mentions that to the best of the knowledge of Chief Secretary, none of the officers present at the site brought to the notice of the LG that the orders passed by the Supreme Court and/or the requirement of obtaining permission of the Tree Officer.
The AAP leader expressed that LG Saab was visiting there to inform them that the road widening work was getting delayed due to trees not being cut. The surprising thing is that Delhi’s Chief Secretary and LG are saying that they did not know that permission was needed to fell the trees. Therefore, trees were cut without permission, this is surprising that such a thing happened in the country’s capital. Delhi’s Chief Secretary and Delhi’s LG are trying to fool the people of Delhi and the Supreme Court in this way. I request LG Saab to hold a press conference and answer the people of Delhi about how it is possible that he did not know that permission from the tree officer is needed to cut trees.
Saurabh Bharadwaj emphasized that the LG said, ‘Widen the road‘ and the road was widened immediately. All the officers know that permission is required to cut trees and they also know that there was no permission, but still, no senior IAS officer had the courage, those officers who write 6-page notes against ministers, who make minuscule things an issue against the elected government of Delhi, those officers do not have spine to tell their LG that trees cannot be cut without permission.
“From this, you can understand the bureaucracy of Delhi, what is their condition in front of LG. What fear do they have of LG, where dozens of senior IAS officers of Delhi went and LG is giving illegal directions, and no officer dares to say that this was an illegal direction, they do not have permission, you cannot cut trees without permission,” he asserted.
Saurabh Bharadwaj, citing a news article published in the newspaper today, said that according to the news, the LG went to visit the East Delhi Sports Complex and he did not like the situation there, due to which he suspended the officer who was maintaining the sports complex.I want to know why LG Saab has not suspended the Chief Secretary till now ?
The AAP leader affirmed, “Even if I accept that LG Saab was not aware that the trees were cut, then did the officers mislead LG? The Chief Secretary and the others know that permission is needed to cut the trees. Then why has LG Saab not taken any action till now against the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary Environment, and all the DDA officers including Engineering Member? This means that everyone is in connivance. If the trees were cut by misleading LG Saab, then LG Saab would have suspended these officers till now.”
“I have a straight question for LG Saab: why have you not taken any action against these officers till now? LG Saab did not take any action because the cutting of trees was done on the directions of LG Saab. These are very important questions and they become crucial because today BJP has pawned the entire bureaucracy of Delhi. The bureaucracy will not do the legal work like the work of the Delhi Jal Board, procurement of medicines of the Health Department, paying salaries to Mohalla Clinics and other legal works but illegal work will be completed on the whims of LG Saab. LG Saab’s one signal and all the trees were cut. I will request LG Saab to stop attacking secretly, and hold a press conference because the public is demanding answers from him,” concluded Saurabh Bharadwaj.