Enviromentalists see red over reports of deforestation in Ggn-Fbd

Gurugram: Environmentalists in the city have raised objections over massive deforestation along the Gurugram- Faridabad road by the forest department.

On their part, the government agency has stated that this is an exercise to remove kikar in Aravallis and replace them with other trees.

Based on sources there are more than 5,000 trees that have already been cut along the area. The decision resulted in the green activists also writing to the Chief Minister ML Khattar to stop the massive felling of trees and in turn prevent the already diminishing green cover of the Aravallis.

A recent report by the Wildlife Institute of India revealed that spread in the area of 6,000 square kilometres, the open forest areas have reduced to area of meagre 119 square kilometres most of it is concentrated in Gurugram region.

The report also warns that if the trends of deterioration Aravallis trend continue, large parts of Aravallis will turn into a desert area.

Recently, the Haryana government faced heavy criticism for cutting around 7,000 trees in the Aravallis area in Faridabad for the proposed realty project.

According to the government, Kikar, a tree that was introduced on large scale in the Aravallis have outlived their utility and are now having an adverse impact on the flora and fauna of the region. It therefore wants to replace it with trees like Prospis Cineria (Khejri), Senegalia Catechu (Khair), Cordia Dichotma (Lasoda) and Butea Monosperma (Palash).

"There was also less cost incurred in maintenance of Kikar as the tree has a better regenerating capacity and withers down much slowly compared to other varieties of trees. However, with Kikar not being a good aquifer most of the other varieties of the trees are not being able to grow along side Kikar and are therefore dying sooner than expected," said a senior forest department official.