The proposed site for the new Appu Ghar. Picture by Gopal Sunger

Jaipur, April 22: Rajasthan High Court today stalled a plan to cut 47,000 trees on Jaipur’s outskirts and build a new home for Appu Ghar, gladdening environmentalists on Earth Day.

The court stayed any kind of activity on the 300 acres of forest land, near Nahargarh, allotted for transplanting the amusement park that was till a few months ago located in Delhi.

Already 10,000 trees have been felled for the new park, water resort and entertainment enclave, being developed by Delhi-based International Amusement and Infrastructure Ltd.

The two-judge bench issued notices to the Union forest secretary, Rajasthan urban development secretary, state principal conservator of forests, Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) commissioner and the developers for alleged violation of Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The act says forest land cannot be used for non-forest purposes.

Giridhar Bafna, counsel for petitioner Mohanlal Sharma, a Jaipur-based environmentalist, told The Telegraph the state government had not taken the required permission from the Centre before allotting the land.

He added that the area falls in a sensitive ecological zone and is environmentally significant. The land is home to over 50,000 trees of various species, including Shisham and Babul, and thousands of animals. It also serves as grazing ground for livestock.

Besides, the lawyer said, the plot was given to the company at Rs 396 per square metre on January 23 this year though the existing government rate for land in the area was Rs 5,000 a square metre.

Unlike most states, Rajasthan does not have a policy to enforce compensatory afforestation. In Delhi, for every tree cut, the government has to ensure that 10 are planted.

N.K. Surana, director of International Amusement and Infrastructure Ltd, said his company had paid a compensation of Rs 1.22 crore.

He said that for every tree cut, double the number would be planted and added that 88 per cent of the land would stay “open and green” after the park was built.

The felling began on April 16. The petitioner claims that machines that can cut a tree in a minute were used.

Ravi Agarwal of Delhi-based NGO Toxic Links, who has led protests against felling in the capital, was aghast at the idea of an Appu Ghar on a tourist site that boasts the Amer Palace and the Nahargarh and Jaigarh Forts.

“It is the wrong place for an amusement park. Nahargarh not only has heritage and historically important monuments but also a fragile ecosystem,” he said. “The Aravallis have a fragile rock surface and scarce rainfall. It must have taken 20 years or so for the trees to grow. The flora and fauna is also going to be affected… lots of small mammals are found here.”

The forest department had planted the trees in the ’80s and ’90s. The principal conservator of forests, Abhijit Ghosh, said: “The forest department had planted trees in 172 plantations around the city, which have now been sold to developers.”

JDA deputy commissioner Ram Saini agreed that the area fell under the ecological zone but was evasive about a re-plantation drive.