Kanwar Marg Case: NGT fines Surveyor General of India Rs 1 for failing to appear

The NGT’s principal bench Friday imposed Rs 1 penalty on the Surveyor General of India for failure to appear before it for a hearing on the ongoing case of the proposed Kanwar Marg.

The NGT has suo motu taken up the issue of mass tree felling for the 111-km long Kanwar Marg project planned along the right branch of the Upper Ganga canal from Murad Nagar in Uttar Pradesh to Purkaji, near Uttarakhand.

It will pass through Ghaziabad, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar, and will need diversion of 222.98 hectare of protected forest land. Over 17,000 trees have already been cut for it.

“Direction issued earlier to the Surveyor General of India on July 8 and August 25 to file satellite images of the extent of tree cutting along the canal were not complied with….,” the bench said.