Large-scale tree-felling in Chautala home district sets off alarm bells

Former Haryana chief minister has left behind a trail in his home district Sirsa, that is bound to have environmentalists up in arms. Source...

Former Haryana chief minister has left behind a trail in his home district Sirsa, that is bound to have environmentalists up in arms. Sources in the State Forest Department revealed that over 50 per cent of the total trees released to farmers for felling during the 5-year regime of Chautala were from Sirsa. These included a huge chunk of the valuable ’Shisham’ trees.

As per the guidelines issued by the Forest Department, farmers are released trees for cutting as compensation wherever productivity of their agriculture land is affected by the shade of the trees.

Instead of monetary compensation, the farmers are allowed to fell the trees and encash their value. Trees are not allowed to be cut except under this clause, the officials maintained.

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According to figures obtained by The Indian Express, the Chautala regime, during its entire tenure, released a total of 24,310 trees to farmers for felling. Of these, 12,402 were felled in Sirsa. Out of the total 6,474 ‘‘Shisham’’ trees that were allowed to be cut, 5,944 were from Sirsa.

The other trees that were released for felling in Sirsa alone included 4317 kikar, 723 Eucalyptus and 1,419 trees of miscellaneous species.

State Forest Department officials said these numbers are highly unusual as nowhere else in Haryana, these many numbers of trees were allowed to be felled.

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