HP seeks relaxation from Supreme Court for felling of Khair trees
The Community News/Shimla
The Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday sought relaxation in 10 years condition for felling of Khair trees and filed petitions in Supreme Court.
The government seeking to waive off or take out Khair trees from purview of 10 years felling program in the name of providing relief to the farmers.
Commenting on the development, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, “If the verdict of the Supreme Court goes in favour of the government, it will give much needed relief to the farmers.
This will lead to farmers not requiring the permission of the Forest department will no longer be mandatory for felling Khair trees.
Besides, farmers will be able to axe them as per their convenience and for monetary gain.”
As ‘Katha’, which is a useful ingredient for making various medicines, is extracted from the Khair wood, the plea is better for forest management and rejuvenation.
This will also lead to revenue generation for the state.
Earlier, a Committee was also constituted to determine as to how khair could be taken out of the ambit of ten years felling programme. And to relax the provisions of Land Preservation Act in favour of the farmers of the state.
The committee has submitted the report to the Court and it is likely to be taken into consideration.
In a similar case, the government is also likely to seek permission for felling of khair trees on government owned forest land across the state.
The Forest department also opined that felling of Khair trees should be allowed for the rejuvenation of the government forests because of its rejuvenation property.
The Supreme Court has allowed the felling of khair trees in the year 2018 on an experimental basis following a plea by the Forest Department.
Recently, a Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court visited the areas where felling of khair trees was allowed by the Apex Court to get an idea about the results and the Committee has submitted its findings to the Court.
“Welfare of the farming community was on the priority list of the present government and various decisions were being taken to benefit them.
Khair is one of the components of agro-economy of the rural areas of Kangra, Una, Bilaspur, Sirmaur, Solan and Hamirpur districts,” Sukhu added.
