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The proposal has been recommended to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), which will now examine it for clearance. The Executive Enclave will house the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Secretariat, the National Security Council Secretariat and India House. The Executive Enclave has had to wait for environmental clearance since a large number of trees are being transplanted for the project.
One of the specific conditions imposed by SEAC while recommending the project for clearance was: “The project proponent shall make best possible efforts to save further existing trees by exploring the possibility of shifting the excavation line of the buildings proposed.” Of the 807 trees at the site, 320 will be retained and 487 will be transplanted.
The SEAC had recommended the project for clearance in April this year as well. But the SEIAA had sent the proposal back to the SEAC asking it to examine the implementation of the Tree Transplantation Policy and ensure that all points of the policy are complied with. The SEIAA had noted that “substantial tree transplantation” is involved. A sub-committee of the SEAC was constituted earlier this month to conduct a site visit and examine “options for reviewing site plan in order to retain trees” at the site.
While the SEAC was told at its meeting earlier this month that the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), which is executing the project, has agreed to review the site plan, including shifting the location of the helipad to retain more trees at the site, the CPWD informed the sub-committee on the site visit that there were constraints in shifting the location of the helipad.
The minutes of SEAC’s meeting on Monday do not mention any changes in site plan or additions to number of trees being retained at the site.
At the SEAC meeting, it was noted that a tree survey is to be carried out “at the time of project feasibility assessment and site identification”, according to the Tree Transplantation Policy. The minutes of the meeting state that the tree survey for the Executive Enclave was not carried out at this stage, and that the building design “was made independent of the location of the trees”. The CPWD has also been granted permission by the Delhi government through a notification issued on August 23 for retaining 320 trees at the site and transplanting 487, according to minutes of SEAC’s Monday meeting.
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