Forest Survey of India says 1,670 trees felled for Delhi project; L-G, DDA said 642

However, in a report submitted to the Supreme Court on Monday, the FSI said about 1,136 trees were felled inside the Ridge forest area, and another 534 trees outside the forest area. The FSI report said the Delhi forest department had put the figure at 745 in June this year.

The L-G’s office and DDA did not respond to questions regarding the report.

When contacted, FSI Director General Anoop Singh said: “Please refer to the report. It has all the information.”

Seeking to explain the difference in numbers, a senior Delhi forest department official said the map submitted by the DDA on the Environment Ministry’s Parivesh portal — where project proposals and forest clearance applications are submitted and can be tracked – may be “incorrect”. “The map includes excess area, and FSI has based its report on this map. It should have been corrected by the DDA and the forest department, but that was not done,” the official said.

On May 16, the Supreme Court had asked the FSI to determine the number of trees cut, assess the environmental damage done and submit a report. The FSI used a high resolution satellite, Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) survey and field surveys to carry out the task. FSI teams also undertook field inspections with senior Delhi forest department officials on October 26-27 to sample check the standing trees.

The FSI report pointed out errors in calculation even at the stage of project proposal, saying the estimated number of trees in the affected area was about 3,093, while the proposal set the figure at 1,050.

“There is a difference between the figures given by the Delhi forest department… and that of the Forest Survey of India… As per the Delhi forest department, total enumeration of number of trees in right of way required to be felled is 629 trees inside Recorded Forest Area (RFA) and 422 trees outside RFA. The number of trees estimated by the Forest Survey of India… are 1,331 trees inside RFA and 1,762 trees outside RFA,” the FSI said.

The Delhi forest department even miscalculated the number of trees that remain standing in the affected area, the FSI said. The FSI put the number of standing trees at 1,654, while the Delhi forest department had put it at 306.

“These differences clearly indicate that the number of trees proposed for felling and number of trees actually felled were grossly under-reported. Similarly, the number of trees reported to be felled is less than half the number estimated by FSI,” the report said.

“The most shocking thing was reporting the wrong number of standing trees. Standing trees are still standing and can be counted by anyone, any number of times. How can the number of standing trees given by the Delhi forest department differ from the number of trees actually standing on the ground? On enquiring from the staff who was accompanying us in the enumeration of standing trees, it was learnt that they had not marked the boundary of the project area on the ground before enumeration, although boundary file was available with them. If the project boundary is marked on the ground, the actual extent of the area on the ground can be seen at the time of enumeration, and enumeration can be done inside the boundary,” it said.

In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court on October 22, Saxena had referred to DDA records which said the court had earlier been informed that the actual number of trees felled was 642. “It is respectfully submitted that the actual figure of the trees felled is approx 642 and not 1,100, as has been explained hereinabove as per DDA’s records,” he had said in his affidavit.

The AAP government, when asked about the alleged undercounting of felled trees by the forest department, said: “The Supreme Court of India has made enough comments to show that all government officers were silent spectators to the illegal acts of DDA. Now, the FSI report has proved that 1,670 trees were illegally cut by DDA.”