NGT directs Haryana to not give tree felling work in forest areas to private parties

CHANDIGARH: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the forest department Haryana to ensure that the work for felling dead and dry trees in forest areas in Haryana is to be executed by the government or its department, not by any private party.

A bench of NGT headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar passed these orders while disposing of a petition filed by an NGO. Haryali Welfare Society had moved the tribunal against the open auction of dry or dead standing trees in forest areas of Sirsa and Palwal districts on the ground that it tantamount to contravention of the Forest (Conservation) Act.

The NGO had argued that according to a 1996 Supreme Court judgment, the national forest policy framed by the Centre and the policy of Haryana government, standing forest extraction should not be done through a private agency. However, the Haryana government had issued notice of tender on June 14, 2013 for extraction of trees in the forest areas of Sirsa and Palwal, which was in apparent conflict with the order and policy of the Centre and the state.