“(The) respondent no.5 (Director, NIT Srinagar) is directed to disclose the entire plan of construction of NIT campus and number of trees which are proposed to be cut in the process of the said construction along with its reply affidavit,” the tribunal has said in its order on April 1. The order came on a petition filed by environmental activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat, who has argued that the Pulwama villages where the new NIT campus is proposed to be built has a large number of trees which “will be cut in the process of construction”.

The petition says that the area has an estimated four lakh almond trees and three lakh apple trees beside a large number of plum, walnut, chinar and willow trees.

“(The) walnut and willow trees are protected trees under the Jammu and Kashmir Preservation of Specified Trees Act, 1969 and these prohibited trees will also be cut in the process of construction and entire ecology will be destroyed affecting the habitat of wild animals and migratory birds,” the petitioner argues.

The petition was filed by Bhat after the J-K government announced, in December last year,  that the NIT campus situated at Nageen Srinagar would be shifted to Pulwama’s Newa village. The government proposal to set-up the campus on over 600 acres of land, mostly almond and apple orchards, was criticiSed by the villagers of Newa and the environmental activists saying that it would not only affect the livelihood of thousands of people but also impact the environment severely.

Pulwama legislator and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader had urged the Omar Abdullah-led government to shift the campus to some non-productive land while Tral’s PDP legislator Rafiq Ahmad Naik had urged the government to shift the campus to their area.

The tribunal has set August 1 as the next date of hearing for the petition and asked the respondents to file an affidavit at least a week before the next date of hearing.