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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Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.

The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.

Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.

"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.

Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.

“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.

Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.

"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.

The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.

Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.

"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.

The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.

Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.