(MOREPIC1)Gurugram (Face2News)
Saanvi Sehgal, a 9-year-old, fourth standard student from Pathways School Gurgaon has created a Watch and Ward Army initiative along with students of other schools in National Capital Region (NCR) to preserve the greenery of the region.
She led a delegation of students that met with Gyanesh Bharti, IAS, Commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporationon (SDMC) on Friday and handed over a representation to him expressing concern about the concretization of footpaths with no open space being left around the trees.
Saanvi stated that “concretization of the space around the Trees is in violation of the National Green Tribunal and Delhi High Court orders according to which one meter radius should be left open around the trees to allow percolation of water and permit the roots to breathe”.
A large number of violations of these norms was noted by the students’ Watch and Ward Army and they took photographs of the same along with the geotagging of the location for identification of such trees and handed it over to the SDMC. The SDMC Commissioner assured of action in this regard and welcomed the initiative of the students.(SUBHEAD)
Sannvi states that she came across press reports of orders passed by the Delhi High Court in Bhavreen Kandhari vs Gyanesh Bhatia and others Cont Cas (c) 778/2021, wherein the Delhi High Court has stated that “Appropriate exercise may also be carried out with the assistance of neighbourhood schools because children would be a valuable watch and ward army for protection of trees. Their participation would be very relevant” and this inspired her and she shared her views with her School and received encouragement from the School Director, Captain Rohit Sen Bajaj and her class teacher Neelima Sarna to create her own Ward and Watch Army.
Her student activists are now colleting geotagged images of trees which have been concretized in Gurgaon and propose to meet the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon as well to press for action in Gurgaon also.
