DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand, birthplace of the country’s major rivers like Ganga and Yamuna and home to the Himalayan ranges, is rapidly losing its forest land to commercial activities.
Data of forest department reveals that the state, which has over 70% forest land, has lost about 50,000 hectares of its forests to various developmental activities in the past 20 years.
The top six activities for which around 21,207 hectares of forest land in the state has been diverted are mining, hydropower plants, road construction, power distribution lines, water pipelines and irrigation. The highest amount of forest cover has been lost to mining (8760 ha) followed by road construction (7539 ha), power distribution lines (2332 ha) and hydropower plant projects (2295 ha). Other smaller activities together claimed 20,998 hectares of forest cover, the data reveals. The other activities comprise of laying down of optical fibres, railways, defence works, rehabilitation, construction of buildings etc.
A district-wise analysis (from November 2000 to March 2020) shows that Dehradun (21303 ha) lost the maximum forest area, followed by Haridwar district which lost 6826 hectares (mainly to mining activities), Chamoli (3636 ha), Tehri (2671 ha) and Pithoragarh (2451 ha).
This diversion of forest land for commercial activities is alarming when seen in the backdrop of the latest report of the Forest Survey of India (India State Forest Report 2019) which indicates that three districts, namely – Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar – have already seen negative growth in their forest cover — of -6.44, -4.21 and -2.75 respectively — from 2017 to 2019.
While reacting to the figures, Doon-based environmentalist and Padma Bhushan awardee Anil Joshi says , “It’s shocking to know these numbers. How can we ask for ‘green bonus’ from the Centre, as the state has been demanding, when we are not sensitive about our green cover? Simply planting any tree, anywhere in any zone will not recreate the same kind of forests again ever in the Himalayas.
It is one of the most vulnerable and ecologically-sensitive zones of the country and needs to be conserved on priority.”
Uttarakhand’s forest cover is spread over around 38,000 sq km, which is 71% of the state’s geographical area. The state has 112 species of trees, 73 species of shrubs and 94 species of herbs, all of which, scientists say, are now facing ‘the heat of development activities.’ “Forestry is all about multiple herbs, shurbs and trees existing for a place to turn into an eco-system. If it is lost, it will take years on end for the same kind of habitat to re-germinate,” said N Bala, head of the department of forest ecology and climate change division at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation authorities when queried about the rampant allocation of forest land for commercial activities especially mining, claimed that the land used for mining was “under strict check.” “We strictly adhere to the norms of the central government as per which mining has to be conducted only after due environmental clearances and in a sustainable manner and only upto a certain depth.
Also, to ensure that the labourers deployed in mining activities don’t rely on forests for fuelwood, we give them funds through welfare schemes,” said Vinod Kumar, managing director of Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation.
