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The National Green Tribunal (NGT), on July 3, 2025, directed authorities to commence “deep plantation” in areas from which encroachments have been removed in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The process is to be undertaken b Madhya Pradesh government, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and state forest and public works departments, said the order passed by the central bench of the NGT.
The issues raised in the application concerned the protection of green trees and the green belt, as well as the removal of encroachments from green belt areas within the city of Bhopal.
The applicant, environmentalist Subhash C Pandey, submitted that the residents of Bhopal have been fortunate to have the Capital Project Forest (CPF), which was established in 1986 under the Capital Project Administration (CPA). CPF Bhopal is a unique initiative designed to address local air pollution following the Union Carbide disaster in 1984, and to tackle the issue of encroachments on government land. The CPF achieved commendable success in its early years, helping Bhopal earn recognition as one of the greenest cities in the country, the applicant said.
The city’s green cover, which stood at approximately 66 per cent in 1990, had dramatically reduced to just 6 per cent by 2022, Pandey further stated. If this trend continues, it may shrink to a mere 3 per cent by 2025, which is a matter of serious concern.
In a letter dated December 10, 2021, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the CPF Rajdhani Pariyojna Vanmandal, Bhopal, told the Bhopal Municipal Corporation of encroachments at more than 692 locations. The DFO requested the removal of these encroachments from public land and urged the prevention of tree felling. However, no action was taken by the authorities, the NGT was told by the petitoner.
The Bhopal Municipal Corporation later informed the court that steps have been initiated to remove the encroachments.
The NGT on July 4, 2025 directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to submit a response regarding the neglect of environmental concerns during highway construction. Other parties asked to respond include the Additional Chief Secretary (Public Works Department, Rajasthan), the Rajasthan Forest Department, the Regional Officer of NHAI and the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board.
The case is scheduled for its next hearing on August 14, 2025.
The application alleges violations committed by the NHAI during the construction of national highways, particularly regarding plantation work, which has not adhered to prescribed norms. The use of local tree species has been completely disregarded and there is no consistent policy on the number of trees to be planted in compensation for those felled, stated an application to the NGT. Moreover, the survival rate of compensatory plantations is very low.
Information obtained under the Right to Information Act indicated discrepancies, it added. in some cases, fewer trees were planted than felled, while in others, the number of surviving trees exceeded the number initially planted.
Counsel for the applicant submitted that the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued notifications that include guidelines on plantation, transplantation, beautification and maintenance for major highways. These guidelines acknowledge that vegetation loss is an inevitable consequence of highway development.
It is the duty of highway development agencies to offset this loss by adopting a corridor development and management approach, the application said.
A two-member joint committee was directed by the NGT on July 4, 2025 to file a report on the unscientific and hazardous dumping of marble slurry waste at the Kishangarh dumping site in Ajmer district, Rajasthan. The committee has been instructed to visit the site and submit a factual and action taken report.
The tribunal, headed by Justice Sheo Kumar Singh, also sought responses from Rajasthan government, Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), District Collector of Ajmer and Kishangarh Marble Association.
The applicant, Drupad Malik, stated the Kishangarh dumping site spans approximately 82 acres and receives more than 5,500 tonnes of marble slurry daily from over 1,200 marble processing units in the region, making it one of the largest slurry disposal sites in Asia.
Despite the scale and environmental impact of the site, it is being operated in blatant violation of basic environmental safeguards, alleged Malik. There is no engineered liner system, no decanting wells, no dust suppression measures, no monitoring of air or groundwater quality and no protective green belt. These shortcomings have led to serious groundwater contamination, agricultural land degradation and high levels of fugitive dust pollution, all posing a significant threat to public health.
The CPCB has issued only a draft guideline in 2023 for the management of marble slurry, which remains unnotified and therefore non-binding. Scientific studies by the Department of Environmental Science at the Central University of Rajasthan have documented the health and ecological consequences of this unregulated dumping, the application stated.
However, regulatory authorities have failed to incorporate these findings or involve technical experts from academic institutions in mitigation efforts. Alarmingly, the dumping yard has become a site for public recreation and photography, exposing civilians, including children, to toxic marble dust without any warnings or access restrictions, the applicant stated.