Forest cover goes up in the Union Territory

PUDUCHERRY: The forest cover in the Union Territory of Pondy has gone up by 1.52 sq km. And credit for this goes to the efforts made by the department of forest and wild life (DFWL) in increasing plantations. The social forestry programme has resulted  in increasing the tree cover by creating plantations on 346.55 hectares. The forest area now extends to 43.87 sq kms. In terms of forest canopy, the UT has 12.94 sq kms of moderately dense forest and 30.93 sq kms of open forest. The data also reveals that there has been a decrease of 0.7 sq km in the moderately dense forest, while an increase of 2.22 sq kms has been recorded in the open forest.  The tree cover has also gone up to 34.5 sq kms with a combined area of  77.87 sq kms under forest and tree cover. The steps taken by the department through its social forestry programme has resulted in increasing the tree cover by creating plantations on 346.55 hectares.However, the trees remain threatened with felling continuing in non-forest areas. The forest department had acted against the PWD on three occasions when they felled trees, by going against the advise of the DFWL. The PWD is now complying with the directives of the regional office of the chief conservator of forests, Bengalaru. Some departments seek permission from the forest department, while some even go ahead on their own without taking any permission. In Yanam, large chunks of mangrove vegetation have vanished, with settlements coming up, roads being laid, flood banks and ring bunds being constructed.Moreover, the government had also assigned some of these lands for fisheries and agricultural purpose to landless labourers. Thereafter, some of the mangrove vegetation was lost when Reliance Industries and the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation set up their offices and laid pipelines for offshore gas exploration.  Though felling of tress in forest land is protected by the Indian Forest Act  1927, unfortunately  the government is yet to notify the forest areas in the UT. The dept of Forest and Wildlife had earlier considered  constituting  a “Tree Authority “ and vest it with proprietary rights to manage the tree resources on public lands in the UT, but that has not materialised so far.