Punjab: Forest department sought land for textile park to increase green cover
Punjab: Punjab forest department officials have proposed to the state government to develop over 1,000 acres of green cover acquired to set up a mega textile park near Mattewara forest area in Ludhiana. According to officials privy to the development, the proposal aims to increase the state’s forest cover, which has seen a decline, highlighted by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) in a recent report. Another official said his department had discussed the issue with Punjab chief secretary KAP Sinha in a recent meeting. He said, “Since the textile park project was cancelled in 2022, the area acquired for it near Mattewara forest is ideal to be developed as a forest once the government gives its approval to the proposal.”
The official, however, added that though the natural forest area has decreased, “there has been an increase in tree cover outside the forest area”. “This means that the area under agroforestry has increased. We are making efforts to increase the tree cover in the existing forests. The land in Mattewara will prove to be very helpful in increasing the forest area,” he said. Earlier, the FSI report had revealed that the state’s forest area would decrease by 0.45 sq km in 2023 as compared to 2021. The state has over 1,846.09 sq km of forest area, which is just 3.67% of its total geographical area of 50,362 sq km. This figure is much lower than the national average of 21.76%.
Industrial project cancelled in 2022
The textile park – a joint venture of the Punjab government and the Centre – was cancelled by the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in 2022 due to environmental concerns. The project had faced fierce opposition as the selected site was not only located near a protected forest but also on the floodplains of the Sutlej river. Those opposing it feared that the project could not only affect the biodiversity of the protected forest but also lead to chemical discharge from the factories into the river. According to them, the Mattewara forest played a vital role in protecting Ludhiana – an industrial city – from floods in the Sutlej. The land for the project, proposed under the Pradhan Mantri-Mega Integrated Textiles Sector and Apparel (PM-MITRA), was acquired from villages near the forest during the previous Congress government. There are reports that the government is considering shifting the textile park near Fatehgarh Sahib.
However, an official said there was no clarity on this. Big projects The development comes amid several big infrastructure projects undertaken by the state government, including road widening initiatives that have led to the felling of thousands of trees in the state. According to officials, around 1.25 lakh trees along the Rajasthan Feeder Canal, also known as the Indira Gandhi Canal, are coming in the way of the proposed 150-km ambitious Malwa Canal Project. The project was announced by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. Kapil Arora, a member of the NGO Public Action Committee (PAC), which is leading the agitation against the textile park, said the destruction of forests is likely to have a major impact on the state’s ecology and environment. “Destruction of forests in the name of textile park is likely to have a major impact on Punjab’s ecology and environment as the state has only 4% of its area under forest cover. The proposal to set up green belts over 1,000 acres near Mattewara is a welcome move. A biodiversity park should be developed there,” he said.
