A case has been registered against private builder M3M India under different sections of the IPC and the Prevention of the Corruption Act for allegedly cutting over 2,000 trees in Chauma village near Palam Vihar here in connivance with a few Haryana Forest Department officials.
Direction to transplant
According to the police complaint, filed by the Forest Department, the said land is notified under Section 4 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900. Conservator of Forests, South Circle, M.D. Sinha said the developer was directed to transplant 20 trees after a request by him and not fell them. However, the developer illegally felled 1,322 trees and 921 under-size trees on the site spread over 100 acres.
‘₹3.30 lakh paid’
A team of two range officers was constituted after the matter came to the notice of the forest department. Probe revealed the developer illegally felled the trees in connivance with Forest Department guard Parveen, who agreed to turn a blind eye for ₹4 lakh, said the complaint.
He had already been paid ₹3.30 lakh and Forester Khajan Singh and Range Forest Officer (Area) Amardeep was also complicit in the crime and tried to influence the probe, the complaint stated. The developer refused to comment on the issue.
