Green exemption for Prime Minister Enclave; CPWD gets Delhi LG's nod but will need to plant 1730 saplings

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has given the nod to the Central Public Works Department to transplant 173 out of the 546 trees on a 4.3349-hectare area for the construction of Prime Minister Enclave at Plot No  A & B, Dara Shikoh Road, New Delhi. In a gazette notification, the Delhi L-G provided an exemption in public interest from the provision of sub-section (3) of section 9 of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994. 

The Prime Minister's Enclave, located close to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, will include the Prime Minister's Office, Cabinet Secretariat, National Security Council Secretariat and an India House. The Enclave is being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 1,189 crore.

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The exemption has been given on the condition that compensatory plantation of 1730 tree saplings (10 x 173=1730, or ten times the number of trees permitted for transplantation/felling of trees) consisting of species of neem, amaltas, peepal, pilkhan, gular, bargad, desikikarand arjun along with other native species shall be carried out by the CPWD at Ghitorni in 18372 sqm area with their own funds.

The CPWD will have to make an advance deposit of Rs 98.61 lakh (Rs 57,000 per tree) towards a security deposit for the creation and maintenance of a compensatory plantation for seven years, and the same shall be forfeited and utilized for plantation by the Forest Department if terms and conditions are not followed.

Among other clauses, CPWD will have to maintain the transplanted 173 trees for a minimum of three years by engaging the same transplantation agency which carried out the transplantation.

Other conditions that need to be fulfilled during the transplantation include the following: 

* Transplantation of trees shall be completed not later than six months of initiation, after which a completion report has to be submitted to the concerned Tree Officer/Deputy Conservator of Forests. The spacing of the transplantation of trees shall not be less than four meters (point to point) at the transplantation site. 

* If any tree is found to have nests of birds, it should not be felled/transplanted until the birds abandon it. 

* Transplantation/felling of any tree apart from 173 trees by CPWD shall constitute an offence under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act (DPTA), 1994. 

* The timber obtained from the removal of trees shall be auctioned, and proceeds shall be deposited as revenue to the Government account by the User Agency.  

* The lops and tops of the trees shall be sent/supplied to the nearest crematorium free of cost, and the same should be reported to concernedTree Officer / Deputy Conservator of Forests by CPWD. Before shifting of timber, if any, from the site of removal of trees, permission for transportation of the said wood shall be obtained from the concerned Tree Officer / Deputy Conservator of Forests. 

* CPWD must ensure that for all transplanted trees that do not survive, indigenous tree species with 15 feet height and at least 6-inch diameter is planted in a 1:5 ratio. CPWD would have to provide the excess land required, and the plantation has to be done at its own cost. 

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