AAP condemns Delhi redevelopment plan involving axing trees
New Delhi, June 22: Amidst concerns about air pollution, Delhi's ruling AAP on Friday slammed the Central government for its decision of chopping down close to 17,000 full grown trees for its redevelopment plan.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj told the media here that the party will do everything within its power to stop the Central government from cutting trees to make "luxury buildings for people and ministers in the Central government".
"Some reports have suggested that close to 17,000 trees will be chopped off to accommodate the redevelopment of Central government housing in the South Delhi area.
"This will affect green cover across areas such as Sarojini Nagar, Nauroji Nagar, Netaji Nagar and Safdarjung," he said.
Bhardwaj also said that the Sarojini Nagar area will be worst affected with 11,000 trees being chopped down. "In Kidwai Nagar, 1,123 trees will be chopped down, in Netaji Nagar, 2,294 and 1454 trees to be felled in Nauroji Nagar," he said.
Targeting Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri for allegedly supporting the redevelopment plan, Bhardwaj said: "He is the same man who supported fee hike in the Delhi Metro. You can see how that decision went; 5 lakh people have stopped taking the metro."
He also accused the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) of "back-stabbing the already pollution sick people of Delhi by chopping down the trees in the cover of night".
"We are not against development. The Central government can arrange for their ministers to stay in other areas of Delhi like Dwarka and Rohini, but chopping off trees is wrong," Bhardwaj said.
Warning the Central government, Bhardwaj said AAP will start a movement with the people of Delhi and "will not let this redevelopment plan to work at any cost".
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Amit Shah to hold key meeting on Manipur
New Delhi (PTI): Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Monday hold a key meeting to review the security situation in Manipur and is expected to chalk out a strategy to handle the "volatile" situation in the northeastern state, sources said.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan and Intelligence Bureau Director Tapan Deka, among other top officials, are expected to attend the meeting, they said.
Shah also took stock of the security situation in Manipur on Sunday after cancelling his election rallies in Maharashtra.
The situation in Manipur, which has been reeling from ethnic strife since May last year, has been volatile following protests and violence after the recovery of bodies of women and children.
Shah will hold a key meeting and review the situation in Manipur on Monday. He is likely to give directions for handling the current "volatile" situation in the state, the sources said.
Irate mobs set fire to the residences of three more BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal Valley on Saturday night even as security forces foiled an attempt by agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
These incidents took place even as an indefinite curfew was clamped after people, agitated by the killing of three women and three children by militants in Jiribam district, attacked the residences of three state ministers and six MLAs earlier on Saturday.
Enraged people torched the houses of PWD Minister Govindas Konthoujam at Ningthoukhong, Hiyanglam's BJP MLA Y Radheshyam at Langmeidong Bazar, Wangjing Tentha's BJP MLA Paonam Brojen in Thoubal district and Khundrakpam's Congress MLA Th Lokeshwar in Imphal East district.
The legislators and their family members were not at home when the mobs stormed their residential compounds, vandalised properties and set the houses on fire, police said, adding the houses were partially burnt in the incidents.
On November 11, Manipur Police said 10 suspected militants were killed in a fierce gunfight with security forces after insurgents in camouflage uniforms and armed with sophisticated weapons fired indiscriminately at Borobekra police station and an adjacent CRPF camp at Jakuradhor in Jiribam.
Hours later, suspected militants allegedly abducted six civilians, including women and children from the same district, police said.
On Saturday, the Union home ministry said all security forces deployed in Manipur have been directed to take necessary steps to restore order and peace in the state.
It said armed miscreants from both communities in conflict have been indulging in violence leading to unfortunate loss of lives and disruption in public order.
The home ministry said strict action would be initiated against anyone trying to indulge in violent and disruptive activities. Seeing the fragile situation, the Centre on Thursday reimposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Manipur's six police station areas, including the violence-hit Jiribam.
More than 220 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in ethnic violence between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups since May last year.
It started after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
The ethnically diverse Jiribam, which was largely untouched by the clashes, witnessed violence after the mutilated body of a farmer was found in a field in June this year.
