Cutting trees: Forest department under fire from greens

JAIPUR: A notification to cut 39 species of trees may land the Rajasthan forest department in a legal tangle after inviting criticism from greens and activists.
The notification, issued under the Rajasthan Forest (Produce Transit) Rules 1957, gives permission to cut 39 species of fully-grown trees across the state, including some that takes 25-30 years to attain maturity.
Earlier the permission to cut was granted only to seven species such as acacia and eucalyptus. This has now been extended to even fruit trees, raising fears that it may affect the biodiversity of the state.
The new notification grants permission to cut trees like mulberry, ‘molshri’, ‘putramjiva’ and even guava, jamun and imli, to name a few, across Rajasthan.
Barely nine months back, the Rajasthan government was lauded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for planting 25 lakh saplings in Thar during the last monsoon.
In his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme, he expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by chief minister Vasundhara Raje to increase the green cover of the state. But the recent notification shows an absolute volte-face by the government.
“This is ironic. The state government gives big figures of tree plantation every monsoon. Dungarpur was in news for planting six lakh trees in a day, but not even 10% of that has survived. Around 4.38 crore trees were planted under the MGNREGA at a cost of Rs 1,500 crore then. But not even 5% has survived. The permission to cut fully-grown fruit trees is going to adversely affect the environment and biodiversity of the state,” said Babu Lal Jaju, state coordinator, People for Animals.
“This is being done for the benefit of wood mafia and not farmers. We are going to move court to cancel this notification. We cannot afford to let the government give permission to cut fully-grown fruit and medicinal trees that are also the habitat of a lot many species of birds,” said Jaju.