Pirul policy contradicts proposal to axe pine trees

The Pirul policy of Uttarakhand Government aimed to generate power from dried pine needles can be termed a classic example of lack of inter- departmental coordination in Government of Uttarakhand. On the one hand, the Government is encouraging entrepreneurs to invest in setting up power plants based on Pirul (pine needles), the forest department is awaiting permission  to axe the pine trees. These divergent and conflicting plans have flummoxed those interested to invest in the State. Their predicament is understandable as no entrepreneur would be interested to invest in a venture based completely on pine needles in a situation where availability of the dried needles would be affected if the pine trees are felled on a mass scale.

The State cabinet in its meeting on April 26 had cleared the Pirul policy for generation of power, bio- fuel and bio- oil from the dried needles of pine trees found in abundance in the state. In this context it is worth mentioning here that the Uttarakhand government had requested the Union Environment and Forest Minister Harsh Vardhan in November last year for permission to fell pine trees situated above an altitude of 1000 metres.

The forest department is of the view that pine trees pose threat to the forests during the summer as their needles propagate forest fires and also prevent the undergrowth, diminish food for herbivores which also leads to human-animal conflicts. A similar proposal sent by the department in the year 2015, was turned down by the union government. The forest department is now confident that the permission to cut pine trees would be granted.

The cabinet Minister Satpal Maharaj said on Monday that the pine trees were planted on large scale by British as it suited their commercial interests. He advocated felling of these trees and plantation of trees like oak and Himalayan yew (Thuner) in their place. When asked to comment on availability of Pirul for power plants in case the pine trees are felled, Maharaj said that the trees are not being immediately felled.

According to a rough estimate, pine trees occupy a space of four lakh hectares of land in the State and cover 16.36 per cent of total forest area of Uttarakhand.

An estimated 15 lakh tonnes of Pirul is produced by the Pine forests of the state. As per the official figures, 40 per cent of this Pirul can be used for industrial and other uses.