JAIPUR: FOLLWING protests and indefinite hunger strike to save Khejri trees in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma on Thursday announced in the Assembly that a law would be enacted to protect the tree.
“I want to assure the people of Rajasthan that we will bring a law to protect the Khejri tree, the sacred tree of the state, so that it can be conserved across the state. The draft of the law will be presented in the Assembly soon,” Sharma said.
Earlier, amid the protest at the Bikaner Collectorate, state minister K K Bishnoi offered juice to the fasting protesters in an attempt to end the hunger strike. He also announced a ban on the felling of Khejri trees in the Jodhpur and Bikaner divisions. However, the announcement triggered anger among the protesters. Soon after, they resumed their hunger strike, declaring that the fast would continue until a complete statewide ban on the felling of Khejri trees was enforced.
The CM said environmentalist saints from Bikaner, Jodhpur, and Nagaur had met him in August. He said he had then told officials to begin work on a Khejri conservation law.