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Ancient Parijat trees in Uttar Pradesh face risk of extinction due to climate change and overharvesting; NGT seeks responses from MoEFCC, BSI and local authorities.
Water content in Parijat trees has dropped drastically — Jhusi: 45.2%; Kintoor: 39.7% — making the trees structurally vulnerable.
Encroachments on Hindon river floodplain: NGT grants GNIDA and Irrigation Department four weeks to report on progress; 60% of encroachments already cleared.
Wetland vanishes in Delhi: NGT takes suo motu notice of Jharoda pond being buried under waste; authorities asked to investigate.
Delhi yet to notify any wetlands under the 2017 Wetland Rules despite widespread encroachments and ecosystem loss.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken suo motu cognisance of the growing extinction threat to centuries-old Parijat trees in Uttar Pradesh and directed multiple authorities to respond to the matter.
In an order dated July 23, 2025, the tribunal directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s (MoEFCC) regional office in Lucknow, the Botanical Survey of India (BSI), the district magistrates of Barabanki and Prayagraj and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to file their replies.
The proceedings are based on a Hindustan Times article published on July 17, titled Parijat trees faces extinction risk scientist suggest botanical reclassification. The report raised alarm over the declining condition of Parijat trees, believed to be more than 800 years oldm growing in Kintoor (Barabanki), Jhusi (Prayagraj) and Sultanpur.
Scientists from the BSI and the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences have warned that the species is at high risk due to climate change, declining rainfall and excessive harvesting of bark, leaves, fruits and seeds. They have also recommended a botanical reclassification of the species, considered one of the oldest African-origin Parijat trees outside the African continent.
One of the unique biological traits of the tree is its high internal water content — up to 79 per cent — which enables structural stability, the news article stated. However, moisture levels in the trees have significantly dropped. According to the report, water content in the Parijat tree at Jhusi has fallen to 45.2 per cent and to just 39.7 per cent in Kintoor, raising serious concerns about the trees’ survival.
The NGT on July 23, 2025 granted a four-week extension to the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department to submit a progress report on the removal of encroachments along the Hindon river floodplain. The matter will next be heard on October 14, 2025.
The tribunal on May 6, 2024 had reviewed a joint committee report stating that the Shivam Enclave Colony in Old Haibatpur is situated directly on the Hindon floodplain, with no sewage network. Sewage from the colony is being discharged untreated into the river, the report said.
The committee had recommended urgent steps to prevent further pollution and to protect the floodplain.
A report filed by the Irrigation Department on July 22, 2025 confirmed that action had been initiated to remove illegal structures. Counsel for GNIDA informed the tribunal that around 60 per cent of encroachments had been cleared and the remaining 40 per cent would be removed in coordination with the police and other departments.
The NGT has also raised concern on July 23, 2025 over the disappearance of a wetland near Wazirabad in North Delhi, allegedly buried under a massive amount of construction and municipal waste.
The tribunal directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, Delhi Development Authority, Central Pollution Control Board, district magistrate of North Delhi and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to investigate and file a report.
The application is based on a Times of India report dated July 16, 2025, titled Find it if you can: wetland near Wazirabad vanishes under inert waste; MCD, DDA shift blame.
According to the article, the Jharoda pond, a once-functional wetland on the Yamuna floodplain, has been systematically filled with waste over the past two years, erasing all signs of its original ecology. The area, which once supported diverse aquatic life, has been completely levelled.
Earlier reports in 2023 had revealed that debris from the Bhalswa landfill was being used to fill wetlands in the Wazirabad and Timarpur areas. At the time, Jharoda pond was only partially filled. However, a recent site visit found the entire wetland obliterated.
Despite the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017 coming into effect in 2020, the article noted that not a single wetland in Delhi has been officially notified under the rules.