The Telangana High Court has acknowledged a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the VATA Foundation (an NGO) concerning the unauthorized cutting down of trees for a flyover construction in KPHB, Hyderabad.
Notices have been issued by the high court to several officials, including the principal secretary of the Forest, Environment, Science, and Technology department, the principal chief conservator of forests, the GHMC commissioner, the Manikonda municipality commissioner, and the Manikonda sarpanch. They are instructed to respond within four weeks, explaining their failure to protect 100 fully grown trees despite efforts by the petitioner to relocate them at no cost.
The PIL, presented by Uday Krishna Peddireddi, the founder of VATA Foundation, alleges negligence on the part of GHMC and the Manikonda municipality in preserving the greenery in the region. The marked trees, intended for removal for the flyover construction between Jawaharlal Technological University (JNTU) and KPHB, were reportedly cut down without proper authorization.
Despite the petitioner’s attempts to secure permission from GHMC for relocating the trees without charge and the utilization of resources such as volunteers, JCBs, cranes, and trucks, only 70 out of the 100 trees were successfully moved. Forty of these transplanted trees were subsequently chopped down without the necessary permissions to create a cricket ground near the Manikonda graveyard.
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