Prevention of cruelty to trees

Akham Bonbirdhwaja Singh *

The other day, I was having a morning jogging near Hapta Kangjeibung and on the banks of Imphal River. Normally, I go to a club at Lamphel, but that day due to a fluke bandh call by somebody, I did not want to disturb myself and settled for a safe place nearer home. Jogging, I was seeing the changes in Hapta Kangjeibung.

In childhood, I used to see horse racings here, it was a large open ground, beautiful and flat. I was just thinking how much Hafta Kangjeibung has changed over time during last fifty years and how much the two villages next to it have grown spatially. Silently, I was appreciating and bestowing my acknowledgement to those who have indirectly or directly taken part in partially restoring the Hapta Kangjeibung, a part and parcel of our history.

I was also having wishful thinking that no huts are left there inside Hafta Kangjeibung, these huts can better be exhibited in museums with proper design, respect and care and Hapta Kangjeibung should have no permanent structure inside the ground, even the lamp posts inside need to be relocated by the periphery. We can also have occasional polo matches here to relive its glory of the past.

From Hapta Kangjeibung, I was jogging by the river bank. The river sides are beautiful places for a stroll or jogging. With good trees on both sides, they are wonderful for morning workouts. The parks by riverside are famous all over the world. But then can one have a stroll by the river banks of Nambul, Imphal or Kongba? (May Yambung R.K. Ranjan's venture of saving Kongba river succeed).

Our river banks are places for dumping garbage, litters, carcass and leftovers of funeral pyres, the washer man using all sorts of detergents, sewage discharge without treatment and what nots. I envy a E.U. water minister showing the tourists how safe is water of their rivers by directly drinking water from a river.

Anyway, let me come back to the trees by Imphal River, from Sanjenthong to Mahaballi Sacred Grove (Mongba Hanba). The Spathodia (African Tulip Tree) and Albeziaare quite grown up and walking by it one has the feeling of walking in the woods. That fateful day, I found that many of the trees were dying, because those trees were all injured and hurt (some are already dead).

There has been serious cruelty meted out to those trees. The nearby two villages dumped garbage at the foot of the trees and burn. On further closer look, it was found that deep incisions were made on the base of many trees, girdling (a method of killing trees by debarking a thin strip all around the trunk of the tree) were done on a few trees.

One should not forget that trees have life and they are living beings. They also feel heat, pain and thirst, they bear offspring and what more proof we need to show that they are living beings and they and they are victims of our cruelty. Against the onslaught of cruelty they are currently facing, they have no chance of survival.

Many of the roadside trees have the same fate. Burning at the base, Concretising the base of trees, nailing for hoardings and flags, binding metallic wires, debarking, truncating the branches (or delimbing) are some of the merciless acts these poor trees have to endure.

The trees by the riverside, roadside, public premises, set back areas of urban homesteads play an important role in maintaining the environment in urban areas and they are the green lungs for the urban people. Generally, a woody plant having dia of 10cm and or height of 5 m are regarded as a tree.

In urban and greater urban areas, there are many trees like that. We need all these trees. They act as filter for particulate matters (PM), suspended particles and dust in the air as well as carbon sinks. Besides, they are resting and safe places for birds and small animals.

These trees in forestry jargon are termed as Trees Outside Forests (TOF) and form an important part of our forest cover (agro forestry and farm land trees are also part of TOF). A substantial part of national forest cover is contributed by the TOF (5-7%). In Manipur also, the contribution of trees outside forest (TOF) to our forest cover is about 2%.

The trees outside forests (TOF) in urban areas shall have a big role to play in building a smart city. One of the important components in a smart city is the green and recreation areas for a healthy city, the proposed norm for such open spaces is up to thirty percent.

A smart city is not only of digital technology and IT smartness, but also of smart and healthy living of which the trees are essential component (Ankara has 72sqm of green area per head). Among the trees outside forests, there are important trees such as cultural trees, historical trees, etc. which are of immense value to the society.

Sincere efforts are required to save trees in the river sides and roadsides and educate people on saving them. We also will need to save the trees in our backyards to save us in the event of climate change, we need them to supplement our carbon stock, they are important carbon sinks. We need them for our oxygen.

But, as said above, the urban trees and TOF are dwindling, the condition of roadside trees are most pathetic. No healthy trees are seen inside the city. The Beautiful Grevilleas (Silver Oak) which were once trade mark of beauty of Imphal have long gone and Sacred Fig or Peepal (Ficusreligeosa, Sanakhongnang) are almost gone. We need to organise ourselves for urban "chipko" to save these hapless roadside and riverside trees now. We all can contribute towards these cause, rich or poor, big or small, all can contribute. In many cities and towns, there are tree protection societies of the local citizens which are very effective.

Whereas, the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (IFA) and Manipur Forest Rules, 1971 (MFR) do not have suitable provisions for protecting such trees in Manipur, many states have come up with separate laws for protection of such trees. The Indian Forest Act only says that the trees, timber and other tree products are forest produces under Sec 2 of IFA and hence, their movement shall be regulated under MFR.

But then, the roadside and riverside trees and trees grown on government office premises cannot be regulated under this provision. There is an omnibus section 76 (d) in the IFA but no notification have been issued for such TOFs. Under Sect 12 (1) and (2) of MLR and LR Act, 1960, "…all trees, brush wood, jungle or other natural product, wherever growing, except in so far as the same may be the property of any person, vests in the Government…" and "… All road-side trees which have been planted and reared by or under the orders or at the expense of the Government….. vest in the Government". Here too, no notification is there for protection of such TOFs.

So now, let us see the relevant laws elsewhere in the country. The tree protection laws elsewhere cover the trees in the parks, gardens, office premises, roadside, riverside and entrust the same to the Forest Department or the Municipal Authorities whichever is applicable and these laws have provisions for preventing cruelties to the trees. According to Sec 8 of Delhi Tree Preservation Act, no tree grown on any land under any ownership can be felled without prior permission of the Tree Officer who is an officer of the rank of Dy. Conservator of Forests.

Under Sec 4(a) of UP Tree Protection Act, felling of "tree on any land whether included in a holding or not" is regulated under a Tree Authority. In Karnataka also similar provision of Tree Authority and Tree officer exist and the Act is extended to both urban and rural areas under Karnataka Tree Preservation Act, 1976. Trees can be felled only for genuine reasons under these laws.

By now, we have understood the importance of saving the urban and rural trees not being the public forests such as Reserved Forests, Protected Forests and Unclassed Forests. Under, the Supreme Court order passed in WP(C) 202 of 1995, there is another class called "Deemed Forests" which are to be inventorised by the States. Regarding trees planted in Non Forest Land the Manipur state government have already framed Manipur Tree Felling Guidelines, but as the name indicate, it is not a law and has to recourse through Indian Forest Act for further proceedings.

Of course, these are regular forest having their own law. So the tree preservation or prevention of cruelty to trees act shall not cover such large forests. The new law should aim to specifically prevent day to day cruelties to the trees in our neighbourhood.

I strongly feel that a proper law in the pattern of what Karnataka or Delhi have with local modifications is required for saving urban trees for safe and healthy Imphal and for making Imphal city a smart city environmentally. But equally important is the role of civil society groups committed to the cause of saving the urban and of course rural trees outside forests areas which are isolated and vulnerable.

In addition to the suggestions about legal provisions, these friends of human beings need a little love from us. There are hundreds of ways of loving them and show kindness. The citizens have to educate themselves not to commit any cruelty to the trees and to prevent others from committing the same. There is also a need for tree activism and to compel our lawmakers for an appropriate law. For these causes, the citizens need to organise themselves, after all, they have to preserve their green lungs at any cost.