In Ahmedabad, 34,700 trees chopped off in 3 years

More than 34,700 trees were chopped off in Ahmedabad in the last three years, while a whopping 47.51 lakh saplings were planted in the same period, the state government said on Tuesday.

Forest minister Mangu Patel said in a written reply that a total of 7.12 lakh saplings were planted in Ahmedabad city in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2010-11. The corresponding numbers for Ahmedabad district were 7.17 lakh, 24.26 lakh and 8.96 lakh.

In reply to another question by Congress MLA Arjun Modhwadia, the minister said that a total of 34,737 trees were chopped off in Ahmedabad in the last three years.

“A total of 21,146 trees were chopped off in Ahmedabad district in 2009-10. The number came down to 9,785 in 2010-11 and to 2,713 in 2011-12. In Ahmedabad city, 297 trees were cut in 2009-10, 562 in 2010-11 and 234 in 2011-12,” Patel said.

The forest minister also informed the assembly that the number of trees in Ahmedabad was estimated at 65.12 lakh as per the sample survey conducted in 2009. The number of trees in Gandhinagar stood at 124.8 lakh.

Bhavnagar was home to the highest number of trees with 228.52 lakh, followed by Mehsana with 223.47 lakh, Anand with 201.19 lakh, Junagadh with 173.60 lakh and Tapi with 172.33 lakh. Surat was estimated to be home to 138.60 lakh trees, Vadodara 97.25 lakh, while Rajkot had 89.63 lakh trees.