Monday, 18 April 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Experts from various fields expressed concern at large scale felling of trees in the state. They expressed their views at a seminar organised here by Doon People’s Progressive Club (DPPC) on the subject of tree felling in the state. The seminar was attended by environmentalist Ravi Chopra, professor SP Sati, Hemant Dhyani, Uttarakhand Kisan Sabha secretary Gangadhar Nautiyal and Citizens For Green Doon (CFGD) member Himanshu Arora as keynote speakers.
Dhyani gave a presentation on the destruction being done across the state in the name of development. He opined that the government’s plan of making Char Dham locations as tourist spots is like trying to sell the Dhams for money. He stressed that such blind plans are not just blind development but a robbery of the resources that belong to the common people of the state. Chopra also said that such plans are made in an undemocratic manner as there is no participation of the general public in deciding whether to cut trees or not to ensure execution of certain development plans. He said that most of such plans are being made in Delhi and not much is being done at the state level. He said that the government should make plans that maintain an apt balance between the development projects and the environment and the young generation will have to raise their voices and stage protests before public representatives to ensure they listen to such issues and work on them. Professor Sati said that talking about preserving environment does not make one an anti-development person but the projects that severely affect thousands of villages and farmers and lead to felling of thousands of trees for the sake of development cannot create a way for the progress of any state. He said that the government’s development model today is the capitalist model whose sole aim is just to make maximum profits by exploiting more and more natural resources. Farmer leader Gangadhar Nautiyal also talked about the alleged use of explosive substances for road construction in the Phata block of Kedarnath that has created cracks in hundreds of houses. He said that metric tonnes of debris have been disposed of in the Mandakini river and the farmers had to bear the loss in agriculture due to deforestation in the area. The keynote speakers also talked about joint protests of youth, farmers and labourers against the governments for being apathetic towards environmental issues in future.
