They came, axed a tree and walked away freely
Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, January 25
A few persons walked into the District Administration Complex a few days ago and axed a tree. A similar incident was also reported from the PUDA complex a few days ago, and even last year, a similar report had come in from the Police Lines.
While unproved axing of trees is a cognizable offence, at various spots, trees have been axed illegally and prosecution rates are low, giving anti-social elements courage to continue with the practice.
While anti-social elements continue to axe greens in the city, in a majority of the cases, the authorities continue to be oblivious of it unless someone lodges a complaint.
The forest department claims the green cover in the district has risen to eight per cent from the previous six per cent and all approved axing for development projects has been duly compensated by doubling the plantation of trees in the protected areas. The MC officials also claim that no trees have been axed in the MC limits without permission (in which case the number of trees planted in other notified areas are double).
However, for residents in the city limits, while a majority of the areas have lost their green cover in the past few years, there have been no trees to make up for it.
Kulwinder Singh, SE, Municipal Corporation, said, “No trees have been axed within the city limits. I am not aware of the said case but if any such violation has taken place, we will get it checked and an FIR will be lodged against the violators.”
“While two to three FIRs have been lodged against the culprits in 2015, there have been a few other stray cases near the scrap markets in the Ladowali area. Whenever we get a complaint, action is promptly taken,” he said.
District Forest Officer (Territorial) Surjit Singh Gill said, “For every tree axed, compensation plus tree value plus weapon value is charged from the culprit. For all proved axing, double the number of trees has been planted in the protected areas. Last year as well, 1.5 lakh trees were planted by us. However, the city and forest department jurisdictions differ on the issue. It is our foremost priority to increase the green cover and take strict note of violations in protected forest areas, which are few.”
“The district has lost green cover only in recent times. All the green patches are gone and many areas which had lots of trees few years ago are now bare. For every road or flyover, additional green cover is sacrificed. Only officials can tell where these compensatory trees are being planted because the city is getting more polluted day by day,” said a resident.
