Foresters blow Nainital's green top

Hectares of reserve forests in Nainital are being illegally cleared of sal, sagwan and other big trees under the forest department's controversial Sal Rejuvenation Project.

Hectares of reserve forests in Nainital are being cleared of sal, sagwan and other big trees under the forest department's controversial Sal Rejuvenation Project.

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Whereas the project allows only the felling of dead and unhealthy sal trees, under its garb many green trees are also being felled illegally. The project was started with World Bank money and many insiders say that the bank may have led the forest department to a new way of making money.

"The World Bank funded the Sal Rejuvenation Project and the current mechanism of creating 'wealth from forests' was devised in conjunction with the Bank," a senior forest official says on the assurance of anonymity.

The forest department, of course, admits to no wrongdoing. Even in the face of evidence, District Forest Officer Neena Gerawal says, "No green tree, including sal, is being cut in any area… Only miscellaneous species such as Rohini and Vishak are being felled." (The photograph shows a 105 feet green sal tree with a girth of eleven feet being brought down. Forest guards say the tree is at least two hundred years old.)

Garewal controls four forest ranges at Ramnagar Division in Nainital and most of the felling happens in these ranges.

Conservationist and non-governmental organisations are naturally fuming. They say the trees that are being 'clean cut' constitute 'dense forest canopy'. This is alarming in the context of Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development data, which shows that Nainital has only 642 sq km of dense forest left of its total forest cover of 2926 sq km.