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Agra: A petition seeking the Supreme Court's permission to cut more than 2,000 non-existent trees for a road widening project near the Taj Mahal has landed the Uttar Pradesh government in a soup.
The court has asked the Krishna Mahajan Committee, which monitors the environmental impact and pollution-related issues in the eco-sensitive Taj Trapezium Zone, to file a report on the government's plea to cut 2,322 trees on either side of the road between Kheria airport and the Taj Mahal.
The commission found that the area has only 100 trees and the rest have vanished without a trace. "If there were no trees then why did the forest department move an application in the Supreme Court for permission to cut 2,322 trees?" Mahajan, an apex court lawyer, asked.
"Let them explain where the remaining 2,222 trees are? They have to produce the plantation journal or whatever document they have. I don't think they would be able to do that. These people take the court for a ride. But this time they are caught in their own tricks," Mahajan said.
The Divisional Forest Officer O.P. Singh, currently camping in state capital Lucknow, said a preliminary study by his staff showed that there were no trees in the area.
"No one from our department has cut the trees, nor have we given permission to anyone to fell the trees," he said.
The apex court in early January directed the state government to obtain an environmental impact assessment report before seeking permission to cut trees.
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