CHENNAI: To protect the state’s green cover, the Tamil Nadu government is planning to come out with a Tree Act to make the felling of trees without prior permission a punishable offence that can attract a jail term, fine, or both.
Additional Chief Secretary of Environment, Climate Change, and Forests Supriya Sahu said the state government has recently constituted state-level and district-level green committees after the Madras High Court wanted a mechanism to regulate the felling of trees.
To give these panels a legal mandate, the state is planning to come up with a Tree Act, on the lines of The Delhi Tree Act of 1994 and other such legislations existing across the country, Sahu said. Even Karnataka and Goa have such laws, the secretary said.
The Act could make felling, removal or disposal of any tree or forest produce from any land, including private properties, without prior permission an offence. According to the Delhi Act, “Any person who fells a tree, on conviction, can be punished with imprisonment, which may extend up to one year or can be fined Rs 1,000, or both. The offence can also be compounded by paying the value of forest produce or compensation which may extend up to Rs 10,000 or both.”
The state is also compiling an inventory to map and tag trees. A standard operating procedure (SoP) for cutting trees is also in the works, sources said. Sahu said plans are on to plant 260 crore saplings by 2030. “We have planted seven crore saplings and the state has now 1,917 nurseries. Most of the saplings would be native varieties,” the environment secretary said.
‘New blue green centres will be owned by communities’
Plans are also on to set up blue green centres, an amalgamation of river, lakes and tanks with trees, parks and gardens in 100 villages. These will be owned by the communities, Sahu said while speaking at a panel discussion held on the contributions of Australian ecologist and long-term resident of Tamil Nadu, Joss Brooks, hosted by the Australian Consulate-General in Chennai.
Brooks, a kindergarten dropout, was the brain behind the Tholkappiar Poonga Eco-Park project carried out by the state to restore and rewild 58 acres of wetland of the Adyar Estuary in Chennai. He was also instrumental in creating several bio-diversity interpretation centres in many parts of Chennai including the Siruseri Twin Lakes in South Chennai. Australian Consul-General Sarah Kirlew said lot of cooperative work can be done by Australia and India in conserving and restoring ecosystems and in water management in which Australia has created world-leading technologies.
On the lines of The Delhi Tree Act of 1994
The proposed Act, modeled after a Delhi legislation, could make felling, removal or disposal of any tree or forest produce from any land, including private properties, without permission a punishable offence, said forest and environment department sources