In order to comply with the National Green Tribunal directions for maintaining records of all trees in Dehradun district, the Forest Department will work with other authorities concerned to collect the required information. The Forest Department maintains statistics on trees in reserve forest areas but for information on trees growing on varied categories of land not under the purview of the Forest Department, coordinated effort will be planned to collect information. According to the chief conservator of forests, Garhwal, Gambhir Singh, the Forest Department has maps and working plans for the reserve forest areas under its purview. “The counting of trees in reserve forests is undertaken during axing while data on population statistics and density of trees is also maintained by the department. However, the department does not maintain such data for Civil Soyam land under the control of Forest and Revenue Departments, agricultural land, community forests, Van Panchayats and trees in cantonment areas. Coordinated effort will be required by the various departments concerned to collect the required data. The Forest Department is presently preparing the format for collection of the data. The principal secretary, Forests, is slated to hold a meeting with the stakeholders in this regard,” he said. It will be recalled that in an application by Animal Welfare Board of India co-opted member Gauri Maulekhi in the NGT alleging illicit tree felling by builders in Dehradun, the NGT had in its order dated November 25, directed the Forest Department to ensure that it maintains due records of the trees in the entire district of Dehradun. This direction is to be complied with in three months. It is worth mentioning here that official statistics reveal that thousands of trees have been axed in Dehradun city alone since creation of Uttarakhand in 2000. The majority of these trees were axed for facilitating construction works in different parts of the city and elsewhere in the district. Activists and concerned citizens have often pointed out that the Forest Department is also responsible for the decreasing tree cover in the district as information procured under the Right To Information by Citizens for Green Doon had revealed that the department had granted permission for axing trees categorised dangerous on flimsy grounds. Environmentalists are hoping that once the department ascertains the number of trees in the district, it would help in preventing illegal felling of trees.