Why Chennai needs a tree act

How the Tree Act helped states

Seeing how a few other Indian cities have benefited from a Tree Act that is in place in their respective states, here is the inevitable question: Why is Chennai being denied this green gift?

Liffy Thomas

If the ‘Garden City’ is holding out against urbanisation and staying green, a good amount of the credit has to go to the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976.
The Act has given enough power to environment groups and residents to question authorities when trees are chopped indiscriminately to further development work or when they receive little care from the hands meant to serve them.
Delhi and Maharashtra are other states that have a tree conservation act.
For some years now, in Chennai, environment groups have been rallying for a law related to all aspects of tree nurture, from planting to maintaining them.
For instance, around two years ago, voluntary organisation Nizhal drafted a notification that it sent to the State Government.
So, how has the Act helped these states?
Harini Nagendra, professor of sustainability, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, says an Act is the first step towards caring for trees, followed by public awareness and implementation.
“We don’t have data to show how many trees were saved due to an Act but it has certainly helped prevent indiscriminate felling of trees and raised awareness about the need to exercise caution before cutting trees,” says Harini.
She says pressure from citizens’ groups and intervention from the Court have pushed government to implement rules.
Recently, following a petition from Bengaluru Environment Trust, the Karnataka High Court asked the chairman of the “Tree Authority” — a statutory body formed after the promulgation of the Act and one that comprises representatives from the government and citizens’ groups — to start a tree census.
Through realistic data, it is possible to keep tabs on felling of trees.
“It will also provide data on concerns such as what to plant, species that will thrive in the city and changing conditions that may cause some trees to fall,” says Harini.
Vijay Nishanth, known as ‘Tree Doctor’, says the avenue tree that one sees on Bengaluru’s arterial roads are still standing tall, because there have been rules to safeguard them. He cites the example of the Bengaluru Steel flyover project, where more than 2,000 trees were going to be cut to facilitate the work.
“We counted trees on the stretch and made the authorities hold a public consultation to save the trees,” says Nishanth.
As of today, the project is on hold.
Nishanth says due to the intervention of various residents’ groups, at least 500 trees that had to be cut for development projects were transplanted in the last two years.
The ‘Tree Authority Department’ in the Pune Municipal Corporation has announced that it would conduct a geo-enabled tree census survey and plot the same on the city map.
The aim of the project is to provide information about “layout of different varieties/specifies, distribution under different wards”, says a note on the website.
Axing a tree is not easy in Delhi too because of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.
Padmavati Dwivedi, a Delhi-based activist, says there are rules in the Act that enable people who have great knowledge about trees and tree preservation and who have contributed towards protection of trees to function as co-opted members who can provide suggestions on matters relating to trees and their protection.
She adds, “In Delhi, for the last few years we had not have any citizen representation and we are fighting for that.”