SC orders Telangana to submit plan to restore 100 acres of Hyderabad’s Kancha Gachibowli land
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Telangana government to develop a plan to restore the 100 acres of land in the Kancha Gachibowli forest area near the University of Hyderabad campus where it had felled trees, The Indian Express reported.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih also ordered a blanket status quo on the felling of trees in the 400-acre area in Hyderabad, Bar and Bench reported. The court said that it would examine how to expand the area under tree cover.
“Maybe we will widen it,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying. “Let there be green lungs in the city like in Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park, etc. We will go all out of the way for the protection of environment and ecology.”
The matter pertains to the 400-acre land in the Kancha Gachibowli forest area, which is home to several species of flora and fauna. The Congress government in the state had proposed to auction the land for the development of IT parks.
However, several groups had protested the decision.
Earlier this month, bulldozers began clearing trees and other vegetation in the area. Clashes broke out between the students of the University of Hyderabad and the police during the protests against the felling of trees.
On April 3, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of...
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