Trees Cut Down for Proposed Kanwar Yatra Route

• 13 Nov 2024

Why in News? 

According to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), authorities have cut around 17,600 trees in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, Meerut, and Muzaffarnagar districts to make way for a new Kanwar Yatra route.

Key Points

• Background: 
  • Earlier this year, the NGT took suo motu cognizance of a news report regarding the Uttar Pradesh government's plan to cut down 1,12,722 trees. 
  • The purpose of this large-scale tree-cutting was to facilitate a proposed Kanwar Yatra route between Muradnagar in Ghaziabad and Purkaji in Muzaffarnagar. 
• Findings of the Interim Report: 
  • In August 2024, the NGT established a joint panel to examine the environmental concerns associated with this project. 
  • The report, based on data from the Irrigation Department, highlighted that initial permission allowed for felling 1,12,722 trees, but the target was later reduced to 33,776 trees. 
• The NGT instructed the Uttar Pradesh government to clarify if the calculation of trees to be cut follows the U.P. Protection of Trees Act, 1976. 
  • The government must also specify if additional vegetation such as plants and bushes, which may be removed for road construction, fall under the Act's definition of trees. 

The Kanwar Yatra

• It is a Hindu pilgrimage in the month of Shravana, by Lord Shiva devotees.  
• The devotees travel to pilgrimage places like Haridwar, Gaumukh, Gangotri in Uttarakhand, Sultanganj in Bihar, Prayagraj, Ayodhya, and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and return by carrying Ganga water in kanwars to seek the blessings of Shiva.  
  • The water is offered to Shiva temples, including the 12 Jyotirlingas across India and other shrines like the Pura Mahadev Mandir and Augharnath in Uttar Pradesh, the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple, and the Baba Baidyanath Temple in Deoghar, Jharkhand. The ritual is known as Jal Abhishek.