Act being framed to maintain green cover, ensure ecological balance & preventing pollution of environment
Dried, Dead & Dangerous trees posing hazard to human life being felled in phase wise manner
Plantation target exceeded as 90 lakh saplings planted in comparison to 80.5 lakh planned originally
Chandigarh, August 21:
The Forest and Wildlife Preservation Department, Punjab, is in the process of drafting ‘The Punjab Protection of Trees Act, 2025’ with the aim to maintain green cover, ensuring ecological balance and preventing the pollution of environment besides conserving the soil.
The Act would be extendable to all the urban areas of Punjab. As per the act, the limits of a Nagar Council, Municipal Corporation, Notified Area Committee, Town Area Committee or any Urban Development Authority/Body. It also has the provision of a Tree Officer which means an Executive Officer in the urban local bodies in Punjab or any other officer so notified by the State Government.
As per Section 4 of the Act, no person shall fell any tree standing in urban areas and cut, remove or dispose of any tree other than a tree which is completely dead or has fallen out without the aid of human agency in any urban area. Section 5 contains certain provisions and specific conditions in which a tree can be felled while Section 9 deals with the penalty for felling or removal of trees in contravention of the Section 4.
Chairing a meeting with the officers of the Forest and Wildlife Preservation Department at Forest Complex here today, the Minister Incharge Lal Chand Kataruchak was apprised by the officers of the department that the dried, dead and dangerous trees are being felled keeping in view the danger to human life. In the first phase 25000 dry trees would be felled.
The Minister appreciated the efforts being made by the department in respect of exceeding the plantation target in view of the 350th Martyrdom Day of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji. As many as 90 lakh saplings have been planted till now in all 23 districts of the State whereas the original target was 80.5 lakh. It was planned to plant 3.50 lakh saplings in each district.
The Minister also reviewed the status of plantation of saplings on both right & left hand sides of the highways in the districts of Ropar (With special emphasis on Sri Anandpur Sahib), Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Focussing on the area around the ancestral village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan), Sangrur, Pathankot and Amritsar. Interacting with the DFOs via video conferencing and expressing appreciation at Sangrur taking the lead in this regard, Mr. Kataruchak exhorted all to implement the project with full zeal and dedication.
On the occasion, the Minister also approved the reclassification of the categories in connection with the poetry contests being held in commemoration of the Late poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi. Now, as per modification the Primary category would include Classes 1st to 5th, Secondary category would comprise classes 6th to 8th while Classes 9th to 12th have been included in the Senior Secondary category.
Among others present included the Chairman Punjab State Forest Development Corporation Rakesh Puri, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) Dharminder Sharma, MD Punjab State Forest Development Corporation Praveen Kumar, APCCF cum CEO PUNCAMPA Saurav Gupta, APCCF (Administration) Basanta Raj Kumar, CCF (Hills) Nidhi Srivastava, and CCF Wildlife Sagar Setia.
