Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 26 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday expressed concern at concretisation of pavements in the capital city making tree roots weak and causing them to fall during storms, and issued a notice to the central and state governments on the issue.
The court was hearing a public interest petition filed by S.C. Jain, who pointed out that trees on pavements in the city were falling because their roots are becoming weak due to concretisation of the pavements.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, advocate Sugreev Dubey contended that “trees were getting uprooted even after the slightest of storms which in turn leads to huge jams across the capital”.

He also cited the heavy rains the city witnessed July 27 and said: “The roots of the trees are destroyed because they get little space to grow and anchor the trees. The concrete pavements are preventing adequate supply of water needed for growth of roots as the trees on the side of the highways and the capital.”

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice Manmohan, while issuing a notice to the governments, asked them to file a reply on the steps for the protection of trees by Oct 7.

The petition added: “Widening of highways and with the concretisation of pavements in Delhi, the pressure is put on the binding of the soil and the soil looses its grip on the trees as it moistens in heavy rains. Lack of care leads to uprooting of the old tree but the same is not replaced with the new one.”