The Department of Protection and Wildlife at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) has caught a number of vehicles including heavy vehicles for destroying green land, during last few days violating the environment law. The law proposes punishment including fines, jail sentence and confiscation of vehicles for such a violation.
According to the Ministry, the violations were recorded at a number of places including Al Mazrouha, Rawdat Salimiya, Rawdat Umm Qarn, Al Uturuiya, Rawdat Al Numan. The Ministry said that necessary legal actions are being taken against the violators who caught destroying the green lands which are locally called ‘Rawd’.
The action was taken under a campaign ‘Let us work together to protect the environment of Qatar’ following the provisions of the Law No. 32 of 1995 which prohibits destroying plant environment and those come under it.
According to the Law, the plant environment is the lands which are covered by a group of plants, whether they are naturally grown, cultivated or planted, and those with trees, shrubs, weeds, herbs and various other living organisms.
And such lands are not designated for agricultural purposes, and the trees are the dominant element in them, owned by the State, and no one has the right to benefit from these lands, the law suggests.
As per the Law No. 32 of 1995, the violators of the provisions of the law should be punished with three months jail term as maximum and fine from QR2,000 to QR20,000 (as per seriousness of the violation) or one of them.
The law also stipulates that in all cases of violations, the court will order to confiscate vehicles, machines and equipment which were used to commit the violations.
The violators will also be ordered to pay appropriate compensations to the damages caused by the violations they committed. The Department of Protection and Wildlife has intensified the inspection campaign and it deployed patrols with environment inspectors to monitor the green lands across the country for any disruptive activities.
People have been asked to report to control room of the municipality on hot-line 184, if they come across any such violations. Under the campaign ‘Let us work together to protect environment of Qatar’, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment has also warned that it is prohibited to do a number of unlawful activities in green areas which is defined by the Law as ‘environmental plants’.
The prohibited activities include setting fire or using fire for any other purpose except for cooking foods and fire to stay warm. It is also prohibited to burn agricultural crops, grasses and herbs whether inside the green areas or close to them. Vehicles, heavy machines and equipment are only allowed to drive on the designated roads and paved ways in those areas.
