“The trees were planted by the residents with the help of the then councillor and MCD
officials. The councillor wants to destroy the green lung of the area.
Though he doesn’t have necessary permission, he is determined to
relocate these trees,” said Sharon Lowen, a resident of Jangpura
Extension. Seerath Narindra, another resident, said, “The councillor has
not taken any permission from the competent authorities for this.”

Asked whether he had the forest department’s permission, Kalsi said, “I
don’t need any permission. I’ll relocate these trees from here. I’ll
not let these trees grow here. People of this area want a park which has
grass. But due to trees, it is difficult to grow grass here. I’ll do
what the majority wants.”

A group of residents, mostly women,
have been actively involved in the maintenance of this park. “If the
other residents had a problem, they should have objected to it when
these trees were planted. The decision to plant these trees was taken by
the residents and MCD’s horticulture department. The councillor should
respect the efforts made by the residents. There are more than 40 parks
in the area. The councillor can plant grass anywhere. Why are they
focusing only on this park?” said Jagdish Mamgain, former area
councillor and president of Progressive Party.

Following complaints from the residents, the forest department carried out a survey of the area. “Of the five, two qualify as trees and the rest are saplings. We have
not received any request from the civic agency to relocate these two
neem trees. If any damage is caused to the trees, the civic agency will
be held responsible,” said Prashant Rajgopal, deputy conservator of
forest.

While the councillor is firm on relocating the trees,
the south corporation’s zonal horticulture department has directed its
staff to not alter anything. “We have directed the staff not to relocate
these trees and saplings without orders from the zonal office. We can’t
relocate trees without permission from the forest department,” said an
official. Kishan Kumar, deputy commissioner of south corporation’s
central zone, said, “There is a proper procedure for relocating trees.
We have not received any request from the area councillor (Kalsi) to
relocate any tree. If a request is made, we will evaluate if it is
really necessary to relocate the tree, and accordingly forward the
request.”

Environment group Green Circle has come to the rescue
of the residents who have been trying to protect the trees. “There
should be zero tolerance towards such attempts. We will not allow people
to destroy the green lung pockets in Delhi. We will visit the park and
support the residents in there fight to save nature,” said Suhas Borker,
founder of Green Circle-Delhi.