Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Saturday directed the Telangana Forest department to submit a comprehensive data on the plantation of saplings on both sides of the roads in the state in the place of age-old trees that were axed for road widening and other developmental activities within a week
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice S.V. Bhatt was dealing with two petitions that the authorities allowing felling of huge number of trees that were more than 100 years old located besides the state highway from Ibrahimpatnam to Nagarjunasagar for the purpose of road widening. The bench said that the data should include the number of saplings planted so far, when they were planted and who is responsible for the nurturing of plants up to the specified period.
The bench said that afforestation does not mean the decoration of small flower plants or shrubs along the roadside. As per the earlier directions of the court, the engineer-in-chief of Telangana Roads and Building Department and Nalgonda Divisional Forest officer was appeared before the court.
