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Pratibha Chauhan
Shimla’s majestic forest cover, comprising mainly of deodar trees, is dying a slow death.
Even as everyone expresses concern over the worrisome dwindling of the deodars, more due to man-made factors than natural, yet the efforts to salvage the situation seem to be half-hearted.
Various options such as drone-mapping, digitisation of every tree with GPS tags, satellite mapping and installing of radio frequency identification device (RFID) or micro chips are being experimented with, but as long as there is no check on the mindless urbanisation and reckless construction activity, there is little any government or organisation can do to save the green cover of the town.
The haphazard growth of the town has left little scope for natural regeneration with roots of trees being suffocated under concrete walls. What is even more appalling is the fact that despite there being norms to save trees from damage on the account of construction activity, the poor implementation leaves one even more frustrated.
It is a common practice, where plot owners inject acids and other chemicals into the trees to kill these to pave way for a palatial building. A fact yet again confirmed by the Shimla Municipal Corporation, where the owners of almost 70 buildings have been found guilty of deliberately damaging the trees by injecting acid in the roots in the last two months itself. With the penalty for the offence being a pittance and a mere damage report being issued against the person, land owners do not even bat an eyelid before damaging trees in their greed for more built-up property. Questions are raised every now and then on the genuineness of the recommendation of the Tree Authority Committee of the Municipal Corporation to permit the felling of the trees.
“Shorn of its majestic cover of deodars with Jakhu forest being the crown, the town is a mere concrete jungle, bursting at the seams to cater to the needs of both — burgeoning local population and the seasonal influx of tourists,” said Sumit Vashisht, an avid trekker and a writer. Gone are the beautiful walking trails, where visitors enjoyed tranquillity, in the lap of nature, he laments.
The plans of the Forest Department with the help of voluntary organisations to plant deodar trees and ensure their survival with good after-care have proved to be more of photo opportunities, with none taking care of the plantations later on.
A comparative study undertaken to study the forest cover change within Shimla municipal limits in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 indicates that though there had been positive change in forest cover with medium dense forest converting into very dense forest, the built up area increased from 328 hectares in 2002 to 384 hectares in 2017. Hence, during the span of 15 years, 56 hectare area of the Shimla MC has come under construction, thus shrinking the space for natural regeneration of trees.
ExpertSpeak
‘Shimla will vanish one day’
As a citizen of this beautiful city, I am very much concerned about the sad state of affairs and the least I can say is that at this pace, Shimla will vanish one day. The answer to most of the issues concerning depleting forest cover and excessive urbanisation lies in the order passed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with regard to Shimla. The order with recommendations of the expert committee must be viewed as a God-sent opportunity, which must be implemented in letter and spirit, if we wish to save the town. I feel the town is passing through an ecological disaster. The collective wisdom of experts from various streams reflected in the NGT order for regulating construction activity and growth of the town is the only solution to the woes of the town. We need scientific recommendations that do not allow unregulated construction as that is a major cause for trees drying up in Shimla. On November 16, 2017, the NGT ordered complete ban on constructions in the core area of the town and restricted buildings to two-and-a-half storeys. The order had recommended heavy penalty up to Rs five lakh for causing damage to trees and forest continuing with the ban on new constructions in the 17 green belts of the town. — VP Mohan, Former IFC officer, retired as Principal Chief Conservator Forest (PCCF)
Experiments to conserve forest cover
Installing RFID or micro chips
Installing radio frequency identification device (RFID) or micro chips on every tree in the Shimla urban area to protect them against felling or any kind of damage has been initiated on court directives. The microchips called “Radio Frequency Identification Tags” (RFIT) once implanted inside a tree, records all data. The data can readily be made available and monitored through censors from a centralised place of monitoring. The experiment to use RFID as a protection against illegal felling is being undertaken on 100 tress in the US Club area of the town. The RFID tags have been put on every tree, along with one common reader. With high-value timber trees being vulnerable to the forest mafia, the government is testing the success of the RFID technology, which will send regular alerts about the safety of trees. However, the experiment hasn’t gone any further. A firm — Siemens — provided the technology and to overcome the shortcoming of necessary power and change of battery, efforts are on to make it run on solar energy, revealed sources. So far, the RFID technology has been used in India on 56 trees at the Institute of Wood Sciences Technology, Bengaluru, to protect theft of sandalwood, which is very valuable. With the cost of a RFID tag being Rs 600 and that of a reader being Rs 75,000, it seems almost impossible for the Himachal Government to adopt the active RFID technology. However, the use of passive RFID is relatively cheaper and will help in preparing an inventory though regular alerts will not be sent in case the tree is being cut.
Drone mapping of urban forests
The Council for Science, Technology and Environment got the drone mapping of two municipal wards of Jakhu and Kanlog wards, having the highest concentration of forests. A Chandigarh-based firm has undertaken the drone mapping of Shimla forests. The mapping can confirm any case of felling with the canopy count being recorded in the mapping exercise. “Preliminary results have indicated that the use of drones for undertaking forest mapping is successful and can help in checking illegal felling to a great extent,” said Kunal Satyarthi, member secretary of the Council for Science, Technology and Environment. The initiative could be adopted for mapping the entire forest wealth within Shimla MC. The Council for Science, Technology and Environment also proposes to purchase drones, so that it can be used for various purposes and much to its relief the government of India has recently come out with a drone policy. So far, in India, drone mapping has been undertaken only in Bandipur Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, where it is not just the number of trees, but its species as well, which has been specified in the mapping.
Enumeration of trees
The Forest Department has completed the enumeration of close to 4 lakh trees in and around the state capital to have an inventory and this process is underway. This way the department will at least have a count of every tree, so that the offence can be detected in case of illegal felling. This will be more relevant in urban areas, especially on the periphery, where plot owners are using all sorts of illegal means to get rid of trees to pave way for construction.