The Supreme Court on Wednesday lambasted the Uttar Pradesh government for making a feeble effort to comply with its order on planting saplings in the State.
While the court had ordered the planting of 2.43 lakh saplings to make up for the loss of trees to the Taj Corridor project, the State has managed only around 15,000 saplings, as shows the State’s affidavit filed on Wednesday.
In 2011, the Supreme Court had ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to plant exactly 2,43,402 saplings to make up for the 73,000 trees that had been felled for the project.
Three years later, the State claimed it has complied with the court’s afforestation initiative by planting 15,360 saplings. It said 15,000 of these adorn the Taj I Block, while 360 thrive along M.G. Road in Agra. But photographs produced along with the affidavit in court triggered suspicion among the Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and C.S. Nagappan.
“Some of these photographs show thorny shrubs growing wild. These shrubs are usually seen in this part of the country... Money is shown to have been spent. You have been taking us for a ride,” Justice Thakur told the State’s counsel after going through the affidavit.
Counsel assured the court that the government was earnest in its efforts towards afforestation. For instance, counsel said the State had launched the Green Belt Development Scheme in 2012-13. So far, 65,000 saplings had been planted under this scheme.
“We are not interested,” was Justice Thakur’s curt response.
Independent verificationThe Bench ordered an independent verification to substantiate Uttar Pradesh government’s claims in the affidavit. The court directed members of its Central Empowered Committee to visit the spots where the State claims to have planted the saplings and file a status report with the court.
