BARNALA, March 25 -- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notices to the Punjab chief secretary and 14 other officials, including deputy commissioner, senior superintendent of police, principal secretary, rural development & panchayat department, following "illegal" felling of approximately 140 green heritage trees in Barnala.

In an order dated March 23, the principal bench, comprising chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert members Dr A Senthil Vel and Dr Afroz Ahmad, took cognisance of a petition alleging that the Improvement Trust, Barnala, used heavy machinery to clear decade-old trees on government land.

The matter arose after an applicant, Gurpreet Singh, alleged that officials of the Improvement Trust, in collu...