India, Jan. 8 -- New Delhi

In a move that could impact up to 84 trees, lieutenant governor (LG) VK Saxena granted a special exemption to a 3.2-hectare site in west Delhi's Kirari from area restrictions under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act (DPTA), 1994, allowing a tree officer to examine an application seeking permission for tree felling or transplantation for a trunk drain project.

The exemption allows the tree officer (north forest division) to consider the entire 3.2-hectare site as a single project, as otherwise, a tree officer can ordinarily examine applications only up to a maximum area of one hectare. The trunk drain project, which runs from Kirari to a supplementary drain near Rithala, would otherwise have been ineligible fo...