Supreme Court says metro should have been brought to India long back; delay has led to large scale tree felling

The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed concern over the large-scale felling of trees in Kolkata, attributing it to delays in the planning and implementation of the metro rail project [People United for Better Living in Calcutta (PUBLIC) v The State of West Bengal and Ors.]

A bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan drew comparisons with the metro construction in Delhi and how it should have been done long back.

The delay in bringing metro projects to India means that large number of trees have to be removed now in various cities to accommodate the metro, the Court lamented.

"All this is happening because we have delayed construction of metro. In TSR Subramanian's book, he wrote how Delhi Metro was first proposed in 1956, some bureaucrat wrote 'not required'. Then we had to construct it in 2000 in between all the road dislocations," the Court said.

The remarks came during the hearing of a petition by NGO People United for Better Living in Calcutta (PUBLIC) challenging the destruction of green cover for the city's ongoing metro expansion.

The petitioners informed the Court that they were not opposed to the metro project.

However, they emphasized that approximately 940 trees were set to be felled, with the justification that they would be transplanted. They pointed out that these trees were being relocated far from their original site

On the other hand, counsel for West Bengal claimed that the transplantation would be along the metro line and not outside the city.

The Court eventually adjourned the plea while seeking relevant documents. The matter is likely be heard on Friday.

PUBLIC was represented by Senior Advocate Jaideep Gupta and advocates Siddhartha Sinha, Riddhi Bose, Racheeta Chawla, Rishi Agarwal, Sampriti Baksi, Siddharth Banerjee, Nring Chamwibo Zeliang, Priya Nisha Minz, and Jyoti Fartiyal.

The respondents were represented by advocates Saurabh Misra, Shrimay Misra and Rakesh Chander.