PUDUCHERRY: While the government is organising Vanamahotsava and launching tree plantation drives, it remains lethargic in enacting the Tree Preservation Bill. Despite the Supreme Court order of May 12, 2001, directing state governments to formulate rules and guidelines to regulate felling in non-forest areas, including plantations in private land, Puducherry administration is yet to enact Puducherry Preservation of Trees Act. After it was conceptualised in 2003, the Pondicherry Tress Preservation Bill continues to remain in cold storage. Successive governments have not bothered to enact the legislation, even compensatory afforestation for trees felled while taking up development works does not get materialised.Most states have enacted legislation for regulation of tree felling in both private and government land, but the legal regulation eludes Puducherry. This has often resulted in wanton and avoidable destruction of trees. The felling of hundreds of trees by the government in the forest land of Swadeshi Cotton Mill premises some years ago is a vivid example. Moreover, in Yanam region, the experts committee constituted by the government on the directions of the Supreme Court to identify forest land found that in certain areas depicted as mangrove swamps as per the Survey of India, settlements have come up, roads have been laid, flood banks and ring bunds have been constructed. Moreover, the government had also assigned some of these lands for fisheries and agricultural purpose to landless labourers. Moreover, 103.7 hectres of the mangrove swamps have been diverted for prawn farming, the committee mentioned in its report.Though forest area has been identified in Puducherry, Karaikal and Mahe it is yet to be notified. The experts committee has identified 669.36 hectres of forest that includes 52.14 hectre on government forest land, 534.64 hectres on other government land and 82.58 hectres on non-governmental land. In Pondicherry region, the vegetation in 12 hectre land on Swadeshi Cotton Mill premises and the expanse of mangroves in the backwaters of Ariyankuppam river at the villages of Ariyankuppam, Murungapakkam and Thengaithittu has been identified as forest area. In Karaikal a patch of “mangrove swamp” vegetation in government land in Vanjoor has been identified as a forest, while in Mahe region the committee identified three patches of vegetation in Pandakkal and Chalakara (both in temple land) and Mahe in government land as forest.However, in the Yanam region, the experts committee had not been able to clearly identify forest area and has recommended a fresh survey of the area to be taken up by Revenue Department in association with Forest Department to arrive at precise extent and demarcation of forest areas in Yanam.In 1977, a separate Department of Forest and Wildlife was created under the administration, but in the absence of proper legislation and guidelines, the department has not been able to do much to regulate the management of trees.However, the efforts of the department through its social forestry programme have been successful in creating plantation on 346.55 hectres of government land. But unfortunately with increased construction activities, trees continue to get felled with hardly any compensatory afforestation.
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