The trees must be planted within three months, failing which a fine of Rs 5,000 will be imposed by the tree officer for the first offence. The penalty may go up to Rs 50,000 if non-compliance continues. Individuals who cut trees without permission from the tree officer shall face an environmental compensation penalty of up to Rs 10,000 per tree.In cases where the tree officer’s permission is not required, the concerned agency must inform the tree officer about the tree cutting within 24 hours. Notably, trees located in cantonment areas, military stations, air force stations, and defence establishments are exempted from the act due to operational requirements of the armed forces.Following directions from the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the state forest and wildlife department proposed the legislation. Punjab Chief Secretary K.A.P. Sinha has assured the NGT that the draft will be presented before the Punjab Legislative Assembly before November. This proposed act is set to replace the existing tree preservation policy for non-forest government and public land, which was passed by the Punjab cabinet last year.Speaking to this newspaper, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Punjab, Dharminder Sharma, said, “This act has been prepared and sent to all the government departments for their comments, and after the department gets the feedback, the act will be finalised and sent for approval to the state government.”With the decrease in geographical area under forest and tree cover, calls for enacting a tree act had been growing. Leading environmentalist Samita Kaur said, “The stakeholders have not been invited for public consultation and there is no provision of imprisonment in the act.”However, sources in the department clarified that stakeholders shall be taken into the loop before the law is enacted.Punjab has lost 1.13 percent of its geographical area under forest cover and 0.28 percent under tree cover in the last 22 years. Forest cover, which was 4.80 percent of the geographical area in 2001, decreased to 3.67 percent in 2023.Tree cover, which was 3.20 percent in 2001, declined to 2.92 percent in 2023. Combined, the forest and tree cover reduced to 6.59 percent of the state’s geographical area in 2023, down from 8 percent in 2001, according to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR 2023).
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