Hyderabad: Expressing dismay at the indiscriminate felling of trees citing construction of multilayer flyovers under the Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP) by the GHMC, a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao on Wednesday questioned the Corporation why it was cutting the trees and where had the idea originated from.
The bench was dealing with a PIL by K. Pratap Reddy, a resident of the city, seeking to declare the failure of the respondent authorities to provide adequate green space / park areas / recreational areas for the citizens as a Constitutional failure of state duty, violating the citizens’ Fundamental Rights including the rights guaranteed under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
Counsel for the petitioner told the court that after the Nizam’s rule, no park was developed in Hyderabad, while the existing ones were shrinking either due to encroachments or the government selling the lands of the parks.
The bench said that the parks neither belong to individuals nor are the property of the government; they are public properties. “What is the point in destroying the parks instead of developing them?” the bench questioned.
While granting a time of four weeks, the bench asked the TS government, the GHMC and the HMDA to place the details of parks available in the city and also the land allotted to parks and whether there were any proposals to develop new parks.
