Forest Dept seeks textile park land to increase green cover

Punjab Forest Department officials have proposed to the state government to develop green cover over 1,000 acres that were acquired to set up a mega textile park near the Ludhiana’s Mattewara forest area.

According to officials privy to the development, the proposal aims at increasing the state’s forest cover that has seen a decline, which was highlighted by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) in a recent report.

Another official said their department had discussed the issue with Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha at a recent meeting.

“Since the textile park project was scrapped in 2022, the area acquired for it near the Mattewara forest is ideal to be developed as a forest once the government gives its approval to the proposal,” he said.

However, the official said though the natural forest cover has decreased, the “tree cover outside the forest area has gone up”.

“This means the area under the agro forestry has increased. We are making efforts to increase the tree cover in the existing forests. The Mattewara land would go a long way in increasing the forest cover,” he added.

Earlier the FSI report had revealed that the state’s forest cover decreased by 0.45 square kilometres in 2023 when compared with 2021. The state has forests over 1,846.09 square kilometres, which is just 3.67% of its total geographical area of 50,362 square kilometres.

The figure is far lower than the national average of 21.76%.

Industrial project scrapped in 2022

The textile park — a joint venture of the Punjab government and the Centre — was scrapped by the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in 2022 over environmental concerns.

The project had faced a fierce opposition as the selected site was not only located near the protected forest but also on the floodplains of the Sutlej river.

Those opposing it had feared that project might not only disturb the biodiversity of the protected forest but also lead to chemical discharge from factories into the river.

According to them, the Mattewara forest played a crucial role in protecting Ludhiana — an industrial city — from floods in the Sutlej.

Mooted under the Prime Minister-Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM-MITRA), the land for the project was acquired from villages near the forest during the previous Congress government.

There have been reports that the government is looking to shift the textile park near Fatehgarh Sahib. However, an official said there is no clarity over it.

Big-ticket projects

The development has come amid several big infrastructure projects, including road widening initiatives, initiated by state government, leading to the felling of thousands of the trees in the state.

According to officials, nearly 1.25 lakh trees along the banks of the Rajasthan feeder canal, also known as Indira Gandhi Canal, are coming in the way of the proposed 150-km ambitious Malwa canal project.

The project was announced by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann.

Kapil Arora, a member of the Public Action Committee (PAC), the NGO that had spearheaded the agitation against the textile park, said the destruction of forests is likely to have a major impact on the state’s ecology and environment.

“The destruction of the forest in name of the textile park could have major effect on Punjab’s ecology and environment as the state has only about 4% area under them. The proposal to set up a green cover over 1,000 acres near Mattewara is a welcome move. A biodiversity park should be developed there,” he said.