Gurugram, Jan. 10 -- The Forest department fined three men on Friday for allegedly felling around 23 trees, including heavily pruning branches of another 21 trees, in the vicinity of Jalvayu Towers society in Sector 56 in November last year, said officials. Those who are fined are residents of the society and members of the resident welfare association (RWA), said officials. According to officials, the forest offence report (FOR) issued in November, seen by HT, imposing a combined penalty of around Rs.50,000 on all three men for unauthorised trimming and pruning of trees will soon be submitted to the court. "Earlier, during an inspection on November 1, around 40 trees, along with their branches, were found chopped. Similar violations inside the society premises flagged in early 2025 led to fines," said a senior official at the forest department. Residents of Jalvayu Society alleged that the tree pruning continued even after the district forest department recommended penalties in November 2025 against its residents' welfare association (RWA) members. "Most of us living in the society have always been proud of how green our society was. But in the past few months, many trees were pruned for no valid reason. Most of them were not near any electricity wires or going inside any of the flats," said YS Yadav, a resident of Jalvayu Towers. Ashok Dabas, another resident alleged that the society's management didn't follow any rules or obtain legal permission to cut the trees. "Many trees which had not outgrown were also chopped down," Dabas said. Another resident, Gp Capt (Retd) Ajay Kumar said that replacing saplings with parking lots is going to add to the city's air pollution issue. "We are still awaiting action on the November FOR, and yet, many of the trees cut were more than 25 cms in circumference measured at the point of felling,, as opposed to the permission granted by the department," Kumar said. Officials said that the RWA was given permission to cut dead dry trees and branches with less than 25 cms in circumference in December. Raj Kumar, district forest officer, said that many trees were cut during November, before the permission was granted on December 3, 2025. "An offence report has been prepared and penalties are soon going to be recovered from the offenders," Kumar said. Officials said around 13 alstonia, two siris, four papari, and four subabul trees, along with several branches, were chopped without permission. Anil Shukla, president of the RWA, refuted the allegations, claiming that permissions had been obtained from the department for the tree felling. "Many of the trees had outgrown so much that they began entangling with the electric wires. With all prior permission, the pruning was carried out keeping in mind the safety of the residents," said Shukla....