HC notice for Mullanpur-Siswan road

Acting on a petition seeking stay on cutting of a large number of trees for the widening of the road from Mullanpur-UT boundary till the T-junction of Kurali-Siswan road, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) and Union ministry of forest asking them to respond to the contentions raised in the petition. The high court has also issued a notice to the DFO, Mohali and Omaxe Infrastructure and Construction Ltd that has been assigned the road widening project. The matter reached before the high court through a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Jeet Bhumbla. The petitioner has sought directions to quash the sanction letter given by GMADA issued on November 23 last year whereby permission has been granted to cut 1,827 trees and 664 young plants on both sides of the road, besides 560 poles for the purpose of widening of the road from Mullanpur-UT boundary upto the T-junction of the Kurali-Siswan road. It was submitted that the said sanction is illegal and contrary to the forest laws because felling of 1,100 trees on one side of the road is avoidable. Till now 50 trees have been cut. The PIL further informed that GMADA had awarded a contract worth Rs 70.4 crore to Omaxe Infrastructure and Construction Ltd for widening the road of the said stretch of the highway. The total length of the stretch is 8km with a proposed width of 200 feet, while three bridges on the said road are also planned. Part of the Dream Weave Walk Network 1998-2012