At a time when global warming is threatening the very existence of Planet Earth, nearly 17,000 trees have been felled in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar in two years. The numbers came to light in response to Vadgam MLA (independent), Jignesh Mewani’s concern over green cover conservation. While sharing data during question hour, state forest minister Jagdish Vishwakarma added that the “government is serious about afforestation.”
“Most trees were cut for widening of roads, while trees that dried due to natural causes and those that fell due to cyclones were also among the chopped numbers,” the government stated in a written reply to a question asked by Mewani.
The highest number of trees were felled in Gandhinagar at 14,272, which includes 2,589 trees cut in 2020-’21 and 11,683 trees in 2021-22. In Ahmedabad, 3,160 trees were cut in two years that includes 1,695 trees in 2020-’21 and 1,465 trees in 2021-’22.
A large number of trees were chopped for widening the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. Earlier, 6.71 lakh trees were felled across Gujarat between 2013 and 2017. During this period, Valsad, Navsari, Surat and Dangs topped the list of districts where maximum trees were cut down.
