In the Yakkasaray district, located in the center of Tashkent, 144 juniper trees were cut down in violation of the moratorium requirements. This was reported by the inspection under the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change.
According to Rasul Kusherbayev, an advisor to the Ministry, after a video of illegal tree felling circulated on social media on the morning of October 25th, environmental inspection officers arrived at the scene. As a result of the inspection, it was found that 144 juniper trees were cut down from the intersection of Nukus and Babur streets in the Yakkasaray district to Babur Street.
According to witnesses, the felling of these trees was carried out on the instructions of the deputy khokim of the district, Bakhtiyor Rakhmonov. The cutting work was carried out at night by employees of the Improvement Department. This action grossly violates the requirements of the moratorium on tree protection, introduced by presidential decree in 2019.
According to preliminary estimates, the material damage caused to nature amounted to 620 million 472 thousand soums. The Ministry of Ecology has formalized all the documents on this case and sent them to the prosecutor's office.
According to Rasul Kusherbayev, due to pressure on some environmental inspectors during the inspection, the study was not carried out in full. Therefore, the ministry has personally taken this situation under its control. He asked the prosecutor's office to take impartial and strict measures within the framework of the law.
"Such situations cause deep dissatisfaction among citizens. If the authorities themselves violate the law, it loses trust in society and contradicts the principles of environmental policy established by the President," Kusherbayev said in his address.
He also recalled that earlier in the Quvasoy district of the Fergana region, 270 trees were illegally transplanted, resulting in damages of 1.8 billion soums.
The Ministry of Ecology stated that all evidence has been submitted to the prosecutor's office, and strict measures will be taken within the framework of the law. Experts emphasize the need to strengthen control and expand public participation to prevent the recurrence of such cases.
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