Tree felling in Vrindavan: Builder arrested
“One of the accused named in an FIR, Shankar Seth, who is a builder, was arrested last night and was presented before the court in Mathura on Tuesday,” informed Dr Arvind Kumar, Mathura SP City . The forest department too initiated action after MP from Mathura Hema Malini had reportedly expressed anguish over such large scale of falling of trees in Vrindavan.
Agra After several cases being registered for felling hundreds of trees at a farmhouse near Vaishno Devi temple in Vrindavan recently, the Mathura police arrested a builder on Monday night.
Meanwhile, the forest department too got in action mode against two of its staff and ordered for department cases after filing a named FIR .
“One of the accused named in an FIR, Shankar Seth, who is a builder, was arrested last night and was presented before the court in Mathura on Tuesday,” informed Dr Arvind Kumar, Mathura SP City .
The forest department too initiated action after MP from Mathura Hema Malini had reportedly expressed anguish over such large scale of falling of trees in Vrindavan.
District forest officer in Mathura, Rajkumar Mittal informed that the department had already filed FIR naming 10 accused. Besides this, departmental cases, which also go to courts of law, were being initiated, he said.
“Two staff members including Van Rakshak and Van Daroga have been suspended and explanation has been called from range forest officer after 454 trees were found damaged,” said DFO Rajkumar Mittal.
“The forest department is looking into CCTV footage to find if people other than those named in the FIR are involved. Probe committees constituted are doing their job . We are working in close coordination with Mathura police and intelligence,” said the DFO Mathura.
The tree felling took place reportedly on the intervening night of September 18 and 19.
Earlier, various cases, including that filed on the complaint of Mathura Vrindavan Development Authority officials were lodged at Jaint police station in Mathura district for damaging the iron grill placed by the UP Braj Teerth Vikas Parishad to protect the plants in the area adjoining Vrindavan Chatikara Road.
The MVDA officials took action after concerns were raised by environmentalists in the Braj region over the felling of about 400 trees near the Vaishno Devi temple in Vrindavan.
An official from the Mathura Vrindavan Development Authority, in its FIR, alleged that during a spot inspection on September 19, it was found that an iron grill put up on the instruction of UP Braj Teerth Vikas Parishad was damaged at 14 places over a length of 100 metres, causing damage to the trees planted in the green belt. The case has been registered under sections 3 and 5 of the Damage to Public Property Act 1984 against unidentified persons.
Apart from this, a separate FIR was lodged under sections 29, 33, 41, 42, and 51 of the Indian Forest Act 1927 by the regional forest officer at the Jaint police station for the felling of 300 trees on land bearing revenue numbers 107, 242, 243, 244, 246, 248, 249, 253, 254, 255, and 256.
“This has caused significant anger among environmentalists in Agra and Mathura. The city of Vrindavan is known for its temples, kunj gali (narrow lanes), and forest regions with greenery, but this very green cover is being damaged due to the rampant construction work in this religious city,” said Brij Khandelwal, an environmentalist in Agra.
