Chandigarh, March 25 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court would take up a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the plan to axe approximately 5,000 trees for the tricity ring road project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) between the junction at NH-7 (Zirakpur-Patiala) and NH-5 junction (Zirakpur-Parwanoo) in Panchkula.

"The project will result in the felling of over 2,000 trees from notified forest land in Punjab, more than 2,200 trees from the Panchkula Golf Course and approximately 1,000 trees from Sector-1A Panchkula and other green belts. These trees are predominantly 20-30 years old and constitute established ecological assets performing vital ecosystem services," says the PIL filed by 21 odd residents of th...