Hyderabad: The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of Supreme Court on Kancha Gachibowli forest destruction has brought to light some more violations in chopping trees in the 400 acres of land. The Committee submitted the second report to the Supreme Court on Thursday. The report explained how 100 acres of verdant forest land in Kancha Gachibowli—a biodiversity hotspot nestled within Hyderabad—was illegally stripped of vegetation under the watch of the state’s top brass. The report asserted that the land qualifies as “deemed forest” under the landmark T N Godavarman ruling and Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. Despite this, massive deforestation has taken place in blatant violation of Supreme Court directives and environmental norms.
Shockingly, the Forest Survey of India (FSI) confirmed that over 56 per cent of the 409.12-acre parcel contained dense forest cover—much higher than the state and district averages. This included: (7.08 per cent Very Dense Forest, 31.89 per cent Moderately Dense Forest and 17.17 per cent Open Forest).
The report identified illegal felling of 125 trees by contractor Govindu Krishna of Delta Corporation—beyond the 1,399 permitted trees. This criminal act, done under TSIIC’s watch, led to seizure of three JCBs and a nominal fine of Rs 5 lakh—a slap on the wrist.
Despite the intervention of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, it took CEC’s orders to deploy basic wildlife protections, such as camera traps, water troughs, and fire surveillance. GHMC had to be pressed to remove stray dogs threatening native species.
The CEC recommended to declare the subject land as forest and hand over management to the Forest Department, restore the destroyed 100-acre patch with native plantations during the monsoon, declare the land a Conservation Reserve under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, protect all lakes as wetlands, per Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, shut sewage outlets into the University of Hyderabad ecosystem within 12 month, reconstitute the Expert Committee with scientists, ecologists, IT and remote sensing experts, enforce stricter forest definitions for government lands and create a high-level interdepartmental committee to implement Supreme Court directives.
