Last Updated: 01 Jan 2025
BUMPER tree plantations
2023-24: Total of 1.2 Crores plants were planted by AAP Govt[1]
2024-25: Target of 3 Crores plants has been set by AAP Govt[1:1]
Forest Survey by GoI: Tree cover INCREASED by 177.22 sq km in 2023 as compared to 2021[2]
2023: 1,465.15 sq km
2021: 1,297.93 sq km
Tree Preservation policy 2024 for Non-Forest Government and Public Lands
-- Passed by the State Cabinet in order to save the trees in Non-Forest and Government lands from illegal fellingGreen Project with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) 2024[3]
-- Target to increase forest Cover to 7.5% by year 2030
-- Total cost will be Rs 792.88 crore
-- The project will be implemented from FY 2025-26 for 5 years
2021: 'Forest cover' in Punjab decreased by 2 square kilometres as compared to 2019 with only 3.67% area[4]
-- Congress, BJP & Akali Govts failed to improve it and instead used it for corruption deals
-- Forest Scam details later
‘Pawan Guru, Paani Pitaah, Mata Dharat Mahat’ from Gurbani
The great Gurus have equated air (pawan) with teacher, water (paani) with father and land (dharat) with mother
'Forest area': denotes the legal status of the land as per the government records
Year | Forest Area | Actual Area |
---|---|---|
2012 | 6.1%[5] | - |
2019 | 6.87%[5:1] | - |
2021 | 6.12%[4:3] | 3,084 sq km[4:4] |
2023 | 6.12%[2:1] | 3,084 sq km[2:2] |
'Forest cover': indicates presence of trees over any land
Year | Forest Cover | Actual Area |
---|---|---|
2019 | 3.67%[5:2] | ~1,849 square kilometres[4:5] |
2021 | 3.67%[4:6] | 1,846.54 square kilometres[2:3] |
2023 | 3.67%[2:4] | 1,846.09 square kilometres[2:5] |
Nanak Bagichi[6]
2023-24: 105 Nanak Bagichis have been operationalized by Forest Department[7]
2024: 268 Pavittar Van operationalized[8]
Pavitar Van[6:1]
2023-24: 25 Pavittar Van have been operationalized by Forest Department[7:1]
2024: 46 Pavittar Van operationalized[8:1]
Punjab Haryavali Lehar[1:2]
Target: To plant atleast 4 saplings per tubewell for all tubewells in the State
-- 3.95 lakh tube wells already covered till July 2024
-- 28.99 lakh saplings stand planted at the tubewells in 2024[8:2]
Year | Area under compensatory afforestation |
---|---|
2020-21 | 311.978 hectares |
2021-22 | 644.995 hectares |
2022-23 | 800.383 hectares |
2023-24 | 940.384 hectares |
FAILED ‘Greening Punjab Mission’ (GPM)
2012-17: ~Only 5 crore (against target of 25 crore) saplings were planted i.e. first 5 years of GPM with only 25-30% survival rate[5:3]
Felling of Trees
Congress's former Punjab cabinet minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot jailed for an alleged forest scam[10]
REFERENCES:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/pbs-forest-cover-shrinks-but-tree-cover-grows/articleshow/116550747.cms ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
https://www.bhaskar.com/local/punjab/news/punjab-forest-area-increase-hel-japanese-agency-update-punjab-government-planning-133912432.html ↩︎
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/punjabs-green-cover-down-to-mere-3-67/articleshow/88886833.cms ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/why-is-punjabs-ambitious-green-scheme-not-ripe-for-picking-5839832/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
https://www.newindianexpress.com/good-news/2023/Jun/11/mini-forests-act-as-green-lungs-2583796.html ↩︎ ↩︎
https://yespunjab.com/2024-was-a-year-of-achievements-for-forest-department-kataruchak/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/punjab-witnesses-increase-in-compensatory-afforestation-642326 ↩︎
https://theprint.in/india/ed-arrests-former-punjab-minister-sadhu-singh-dharamsot-in-forest-scam-case/1925394/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/amritsar/miyawaki-forest-to-come-up-in-amritsar-592038 ↩︎