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As per the sanctions of the Ministry of Environment, the Rs 15 crore Jakhu Ropeway project was given permission to cut 30 trees that would be affected by the construction. It was specified that no other tree would be damaged partially or completely.
This correspondent today visited the site near Titla Hotel, Jakhu - the core area where the company is constructing a restaurant and some residential structures as part of the ropeway project. Here, the roots of some trees have been exposed while digging for making space for retaining walls along the road, leading to the site.
That is not all. Some trees have been buried under the debris, and nearly six trees have been embedded in the retaining wall. When contacted by The Indian Express, Site Engineer of the Jagson International Limited Company Rajveer Singh, who was out of station and talked over the phone, expressed his inability to give any information about the permission for embedding the trees in the concrete walls.
“Jagson is a big organization and I do not know who is the official concerned regarding the environmental sanctions,” claimed Rajveer Singh.
Says Divisional Forest Officer Shimla (Urban) Rajesh Kumar Sharma, who is monitoring the activities of the project, “Before the company started off with the retaining wall on the road leading towards the restaurant, we told them to leave ample space between the wall and the trees, so that later mud can be filled to save the trees. I have not been to the site for last two days. If the trees have been embedded, we will certainly take action against them,” Sharma asserted. In a similar case concerning a religious organization in Shimla, alarmed over the threat to green trees, the High Court had intervened after taking note of a newspaper report.
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