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Protest meeting with DFO over Vasant Vihar tree fellings

5th Mar 2010

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A delegation from Citizens For Green Doon on Saturday met DFO, Mrs.Meenakshi Joshi, to protest against the permission given by the Forest department for felling two trees in Vasant Vihar. The Vasant Vihar Society had felled the trees on Thursday on the pretext of being too tall and infested with termites, causing great anger among the environmentalists of Doon. Agitated volunteers of CFGD had staged a dharna in front of the office of Vasant Vihar Society and later gheraod the Chairman of the Society, Mr. JP Nawani. Mr. Nawani had shrugged off any responsibility for the felling, blaming the forest department instead. Showing our concern A memorandum expressing extreme distress was handed over to the DFO. The delegates urged her to be more vigilant in granting permission and showed her photographs of the cut trees, which could be clearly showed them to be healthy. They also urged her to insist on resolutions from Executive Committees or General Bodies of various Societies which request tree felling instead of a letter signed by a functionary of the Society. This would ensure a wider consultation before a decision is taking to fell trees. Mrs. Ruchi Singh Rao of CFGD said that if things go on at the present rate, Dehradun would soon become a jungle. Mr. Rajeev Sacchar, another member of CFGD, urged the DFO to have a moratorium of 3 months on tree felling. Venu Dhingra recalled the statements of the Chairman of Vasant Vihar Society disclaiming any responsibility for tree felling and laying the entire blame on the Forest Department. She said that the Chairman could not be made to understand how felling of trees in Vasant Vihar had an impact on the entire Valley. Himanshu Arora stressed that the lower level staff of Forest Department should be extra vigilant in conducting field inspections. Mrs. Joshi gave them a patient hearing and agreed that there was probably an error of judgment on behalf of the forest department in granting permission in this case. She said that numerous societies in Dehradun frequently submit applications for tree fellings, and since she has taken charge, she has been rejecting applications she finds suspicious. Joshi urged the members of CFGD to meet the officials of various societies in Doon and urge them to be conscious towards the environment.