-Without deciding the objections as per law forest department goes ahead with its old ESZ proposal
CHANDIGARH: Defying the orders of the Supreme Court and denying the existence of a high-level committee of three cabinet ministers constituted by the Punjab government, the Forest and Wildlife Conservation Department, Punjab, has again sent the old proposed notification to the Punjab cabinet. The notification is meant for declaring an Eco-Sensitive Zone upto 3 km for Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary adjacent to the Nayagaon Municipal Committee for the approval of the Cabinet.
Chairman Nayagaon Ghar Bachao Manch and senior Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vineet Joshi said while addressing media persons today. Joshi said that as soon as the proposed notification is approved in the cabinet meeting headed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, more than two lakh poor and lower middle-class population living in Nayagaon, Kansal, Karoran, and Nada under Nayagaon Municipal Council of Mohali district will face plethora of problems. The houses, shops, hospitals, religious places, hotels etc. built according to the law, may also be demolished.
Giving details about the extent of defying court orders, Joshi said that the Supreme Court had directed the Punjab government to listen to the objections of Nayagaon residents, take action on them, and decide accordingly. The Punjab government constituted a high-level committee comprising three cabinet ministers which conducted a public hearing on the 4th of December 2024. The committee gave a hearing to the residents, councilors, organizations, etc. of the Nayagaon area and took more than a hundred objections in writing. However, after that, no meeting was actually held to decide the objections according to the law, which is clearly a violation of the orders of the Supreme Court.
He added that the existence of a high-level committee of three cabinet ministers was denied because after the public hearing by ministers Lal Chand Kataruchak, Dr. Ravjot Singh and Hardeep Singh Mundian, the representations with its suggestions and objections have to be complied with; discussed and deliberated; then considered and then decided as per merit in the interest of the residents of the area of Nayagaon and surrounding area redressing their grievances by all the committee members. However, the officers of the Forest and Wildlife Conservation Department without any meeting; or discussion with the other ministers and officials of housing and urban development and local govt that are part of the committee on ESZ, unilaterally forest dept goes ahead with its old proposal.
Joshi demanded that a joint meeting of ministers and officials of the three departments should be convened immediately to take a decision per law on the objections raised before the high-level committee during the public hearing.