New Delhi: Delhi govt plans to allow people to easily fell or transport 10 trees of five species if they are grown on private land.The five species are poplar, safeda (eucalyptus), sejhana (moringa), gamari and Malabar neem. The forest department has issued a draft notification, dated July 8, proposing to simplify the rules for felling, removal, transportation or disposal of trees belonging to the five species to “promote agro-forestry and tree planting outside forest areas.”It has invited suggestions and objections to the draft notification from the public by July 30.Landowners will have to register the planting of these species on the forest department’s e-portal which will generate a planting registration certificate.For felling up to 10 trees, owners will have to upload the registration certificate and geo-tagged photographs of the trees proposed to be cut. In case of no objection, the tree officer will issue permission within seven working days. However, for felling more than 10 trees, the tree officer will conduct a site inspection within 14 working days and issue permission within three weeks, if no objection is raised. Objections can be based only on violations of rules, any law or court order.The draft notification says trees felled in accordance with these rules shall not attract compensatory plantation. In Delhi, for felling a tree, an individual or agency has to carry out compensatory plantation in the ratio 1:10. “Timber or produce obtained from exempted plantation species may be transported within or outside Delhi without any separate transit permit. However, random verification may be undertaken to prevent misuse,” said the draft notification.Inviting comments, suggestions and objections from the general public and stakeholders by July 30, the draft notification said, “experience in the implementation of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 has shown that planting and agro-forestry activities undertaken by private landowners on their own land, particularly involving fast-growing and commercially cultivated tree species, have not received adequate encouragement due to procedural requirements relating to permission for the felling and transit of trees.” It added that the lack of a simplified and predictable regulatory framework has acted as a disincentive for plantation on private land.According to the draft, the rules will apply to private land in Delhi but will not cover forests, ridge areas, deemed forests or any land where tree felling is prohibited or restricted under any law or court order.However, activists objected to the draft notification saying that urban trees are not crops waiting to be harvested as they are critical climate infrastructure that cool our cities and clean our air.Tree activist Bhavreen Kandhari said, “The Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994 was enacted to safeguard trees in a city facing severe air pollution, rising temperatures and rapid concretisation. Instead of strengthening the protection of existing mature trees, improving tree health and enforcing the Act, this draft notification shifts the focus towards encouraging commercial tree cultivation for the wood and pulp industry. This is both ecologically and legally concerning.” She added that wood based industries are already governed by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change’s guidelines issued pursuant to the Supreme Court’s orders in the TN Godavarman case, whose implementation in Delhi itself has faced legal scrutiny.
