India Tree-Cutting Plan: Residents protest against plan to cut 16,500 trees

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The Indian government's plan to cut 16-thousand-500 trees in the Indian capital for redevelopment has received wide-spread criticism. Already suffering from high pollution, many residents believe the tree-cutting plan will only make things worse. Shweta Bajaj reports from New Delhi.

What used to be mighty trees, now lain low.

This is one of the areas where the Indian government wants to build new developments.

To date, four-thousand trees have been felled. The original plan was to chop down 16-thousand-500, and possibly more.

SHWETA BAJAJ NEW DELHI "Facing public anger against the proposed felling of thousands of trees in the capital, the Indian Government has said no more trees would be cut for redevelopment of the seven government districts that have to be built. But the activists are not buying it."

The plan has angered the residents of New Delhi, a city that's seen much more than its fair share of thick smog in the past few weeks. News of the trees being cut came as the city choked on a thick dusty haze.

VIMLENDU JHA ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST "It's very very important for people to uprise, people to speak up, people to stand up, because it's the Government that is the custodian of our environment, which is violating our environment. It's the Government that is supposed to be planting more trees, is supposed to fix our air which is actually in a pathetic situation, is actually chopping of our trees."

The 16,500 trees to be cut will make way for high rises in some of the greenest areas of Delhi. Government housing will make way for taller structures that can accommodate more people, though flats will be more expensive.

AMER VAID RESIDENT, DELHI "Delhi's pollution is probably the worst in the world right now. My father has severe asthma and we feel it all around us and I think I came with my mother that she felt it's a cause we both need to go for."

DEVALINA KOHLI RESIDENT, DELHI "We don't have episodes of pollution, we have year-long pollution and in the face of that we are actually killing the trees, we are cutting them down and they are the only thing that is actually protecting us."

Delhi is one of the fastest developing cities in the world, but there is no concrete plan on how this expansion can be done in an orderly manner. Rivers are drying up, concrete and garbage disposal remain massive issues, and every year, pollution worsens.

The residents of the city believe, it's time to reclaim their city, in whose development they all need to be shareholders.

Shweta Bajaj, CGTN, New Delhi, India.