30 trees axed in Mangar forest area

As many as 30 trees were chopped from a one-acre plot in Mangar forest area, 20 kilometres from the city, early on Wednesday. Tree felling is prohibited in the area under sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1990.

As many as 30 trees were chopped from a one-acre plot in Mangar forest area, 20 kilometres from the city, early on Wednesday. Tree felling is prohibited in the area under sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1990.

As many as 30 trees were chopped from a one-acre plot in Mangar forest area, 20 kilometres from the city.

The plot is close to the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. There were several instances of tree felling in the area and though a number of FIRs have been registered, the authorities have not taken any significant action yet, environmentalists said.

“In the last one year, more than a dozen FIRs have been registered but tree felling continues in the area without any restriction,” Vevik Kamboj, an environmentalist, said.

In addition to full grown trees, numerous shrub species native to the Aravallis such as zizyphus nummularia (Jhar Ber), flueggea leucopyrus (Dholiya), carissa spinarum (jungli karondha), capparis sepiaria (heesh), grewia tenax (ganger), justicia adhatoda (bosa), have been chopped and the land cleared, a forest guard said.

MD Sinha, conservator of forest, Gurgaon, said, “It seems some violators have gradually trying to clear the land gradually since the last few months, removing trees and shrubs and then levelling covered areas. Two months ago, the same area was fenced but the forest department reclaimed the land.”

The forest department will file a damage report of the sight soon, Sinha said.

Police have not registered an FIR on the incident. Hanif Qureshi, police commissioner, Faridabad, said, “We are not aware of the situation yet. We will inform the forest department if we come across any such incident.”

BOX

• In the past one year, large-scale tree felling has been reported at least 16 times from parts of southern Haryana.

• 18 FIRs have been registered in the past year against offenders for cutting trees.

• After media reported the cutting of trees in Mangar, the activity shifted to the Mangar border.

• Two guards each are deployed during the day and night, to keep watch on the forest area and to report and stop any violations.