Supreme Court committee to decide on felling of green trees in govt forests in Himachal

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, March 12

An empowered committee of the Supreme Court will take a decision on allowing felling of green trees on government forests across the state. The committee recently visited forests in the Nurpur area of Kangra district to inspect the rejuvenation in areas where felling of green trees was allowed in 2020 by the apex court.

Silviculture scheme

• In 2020, the SC allowed the felling of green trees on experimental basis in Nurpur, Bilaspur and Paonta Sahib forest divisions following a plea by the Forest Dept
• An empowered committee of the SC recently visited the areas where green trees were felled to check if the forests had rejuvenated in those areas
• The future of silviculture felling will depend on the report of the committee

Himachal became the first state in the country that was allowed by the Supreme Court in 2020 to fell green trees in government forests under the silviculture scheme. Under the scheme, felling of green trees was allowed for forest management and rejuvenation.

As per Forest Corporation Managing Director Pavnesh Sharma, the state government had pleaded before the Supreme Court for permission to fell green trees, especially of khair, eucalyptus and sal varieties.

The court allowed silviculture felling of green trees on experimental basis in Nurpur, Bilaspur and Paonta Sahib forest divisions. After the SC permission, green trees of khair and eucalyptus were felled in Nurpur and Bilaspur forests, while sal trees were felled in Paonta Sahib. After the felling of green trees, plantation was done in the areas from where the green trees were cut.

The SC panel recently visited the areas where green trees were felled to check if the forests had rejuvenated. The future of silviculture felling would depend on the report of the committee, said Pavnesh Sharma. The felling of green trees was undertaken by the Forest Corporation, he added.

The Supreme Court has banned the felling of green trees in forests across the country. While the state Forest Department allows tree felling under 10-year felling plans in private forests, there was a complete ban on felling green trees in government forests.

In its plea before the Supreme Court, the department had said that trees like khair, from which katha is obtained, die a natural death after a few decades. “Since khair trees rejuvenate after being felled at the trunk level, felling them under the silviculture scheme should be allowed for the rejuvenation of government forests,” it had pleaded.

Though the Forest Department is in favour of silviculture felling in government forests, environmentalists are opposing it fearing that it may prove detrimental to the green cover in the state.

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