As many as 17,432 trees were felled in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar districts in two years — 2020-2022, the state legislature was informed on Monday. 🗞️ Subscribe Now: Get Express Premium to access the best Election reporting and analysis 🗞️ The government said most of them were cut for widening of roads, while trees that dried due to natural causes and those that fell due to cyclones were also among those chopped, the government stated in a written reply to a question asked by Vadgam MLA (independent), Jignesh Mewani. The highest number of trees were felled in Gandhinagar at 14,272, which includes 2,589 trees cut in 2020-’21 and 11,683 trees in 2021-22. In Ahmedabad, 3,160 trees were cut in two years that includes 1,695 trees in 2020-’21 and 1,465 trees in 2021-’22. A large number of trees were chopped for widening the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. In March 2019, The Indian Express had reported that 6.71 lakh trees were felled across Gujarat between 2013 and 2017. During this period, Valsad, Navsari, Surat and Dangs topped the list of districts where maximum trees were cut down. During the Question Hour, state Forest Minister Jagdish Vishwakarma said that the government is serious about afforestation. “The government is constantly worried about protecting its forests. The Bhupendra Patel government is not only planting trees, but is also conserving them,” the minister said in reply to a question on afforestation in Kalol taluka.
