Hunting for trees in forest

Kharkhari Jatmal in Najafgarh is one of Delhi government’s green areas where compensatory plantation takes place.

Then there are the unforeseen accidents,another official at the Hindon Cut city forest in North division says. “In 2006,many saplings were destroyed after a fire broke out in the forests here.” The Forest department,he adds,conducts routine inspections: “We also replant saplings to replace those that die.”

Significantly,officials at the South forest division are themselves not certain exactly where compensatory re-plantation is being carried out in their jurisdiction.

Though the law makes it mandatory for an agency cutting a tree to plant 10 saplings,experts say it has failed to make the civic agencies directly responsible for re-plantation and maintenance. In most cases,they say,the civic agency that cuts a certain number of trees deposits an equivalent amount of money with the Forest department for re-plantation.

The Forest department then carries out the plantation work itself or invites bids from contractors.

“When any agency cuts trees,it is liable to plant saplings 10 times the number,” Environment Secretary Dharmendra says. “The procedure that is generally followed is the agencies deposit the security amount and the Forest department selects the land and opens bids.”

At times,civic agencies also employ their own horticulture department for the plantation drive. A senior official in NDMC’s horticulture department says: “Sometimes,when there are few saplings to be replanted,we do it ourselves. But for mass re-plantation,we deposit security money with the Forest department.” 

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation spokesperson Anuj Dayal says DMRC does not get directly involved in afforestation. The Forest department usually carries out re-plantation on behalf of Delhi Metro,he says.

In such cases,the department invites bids from individuals or organisations that have planted at least 5,000 saplings in the Capital region.

“The contract is usually given for three to five years at a time,” O P Dabas of the NGO ‘All India Society for Environmental Cause’ says. “While awarding tenders,the department makes it clear that the saplings should have achieved certain height and girth when the contract ends.”

Dabas’s organisation has won the tender for afforestation at Mungaspur and Kharkhari Jat Mal,in the west division. The forest division,he says,told his organisation that saplings it planted on behalf of DMRC in these forest areas should be “three metres high and should have a girth of 35 cm at the end of five years”.

How green is your money?
But depositing security money is not the solution,say experts.

“For the agencies,all responsibility ends once they deposit money with the Forest department,” author and eco-botanist Pradeep Krishan says. “Since legal technicalities cannot force agencies to maintain the new saplings,the whole idea of compensatory afforestation is virtually doomed.”

One possible solution,C R Babu of Delhi University’s School of Environmental Studies says,is a slight change in policies regarding tree felling. He says the government could ensure that these agencies explore all other options to save trees while designing infrastructure projects.

Krishan says civic agencies should pass on “some sort of direction to their civil engineers to change designs or alignments” to ensure minimum possible damage to the trees.