Doon boils over on cutting down of loved, old trees

Rakesh Agrawal, Dehradun

HUNDREDS of people, including activists, students and senior citizens, gathered under the national flag at Dilaram Chowk on Rajpur Road recently to begin a two-kilometre protest march against rampant tree felling in Dehradun.

Chopping down trees in the city is akin to heresy for citizens. After all, the state is famous for the Chipko movement, which saw village women hugging trees to prevent them being felled.

The trigger this time was a proposal to cut down trees to widen the stretch leading to the chief minister’s house on New Cantonment Road. Around 240 trees, including a 250-year-old one, were slated to be axed for the project.

Another reason was the heat this summer which was the hottest ever.  Dehradun recorded a temperature of 43°C-plus on June 18, along with persistent hot winds, a phenomenon unheard of in this picturesque city surrounded by mountains.

A large poster at the protest march site read, “Abki baar 50 paar” — a play on the BJP’s election slogan — referring to the city’s temperature that rises each summer.

Sensing the indignation of the people, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami backtracked. Government agencies placed banners along the route informing protesters of his decision. But his reassurance had little impact. In response, not one but two protest marches were carried out, on June 27 and July 7.

“It’s a long battle. About 40,000 trees are planned to be sacrificed in the city. We must be ready to fight,” said environmentalist Ravi Chopra, who was in attendance with his wife, Jo McGowan. 

Dehradun, once labelled ‘the city of grey hair and green cover’ is now called ‘the city of black hair and grey cover’. It has lost 75 percent of its green cover and its once free-flowing canals are now drains carrying sewage. Thousands of young people from the hills have migrated to the city in search of livelihoods. And unabated construction of malls, offices, flyovers have turned its sky grey with dust. 

Residents were alerted to the government’s covert plan when workers began marking trees to be axed. Voluntary groups informed residents through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and X.

There was talk of more roads being widened and more trees being sacrificed. Such as a road leading to Centrio Mall, close to the Survey of India building entrance. All this under the guise of making Dehradun a ‘smart city’.

“The existing two-lane road is good enough for us. This is being done to benefit the mall owner,” alleged Trilochan Bhatt, a journalist and activist.

Protesters arrived at Centrio Mall from Dilawar Chowk and filled the air with songs, slogans and street plays on tree protection. A clutch of voluntary organizations took part — Making a Difference by Being the Difference (MAD), Parashashti, Agaaz Federation, Students Federation of India, Youth Club and many others.

Folk singers Satish Dhaulakhandi and Jaydeep Saklani sang loudly and passionately, hoping their message reached policymakers clearly.

Ritu Chatterjee, founder and partner of GW Lifestyles, exhibited green design concepts suited to hilly areas. All participants took a pledge to save trees and protect the environment.

The march was colourful and lively with camaraderie. A retired bank official, Dipak Menon, came with an oxygen machine. “We will soon need more of these if this craze to uproot trees continues,” he quipped. Gayatri Tamta, a folk artiste, dressed as Gaura Devi, the legendary Chipko leader. “I came here dressed like her to save trees like her,” she said.

Ajay Sharma, a teacher, arrived with some of his students. “These trees will soon be dead, so we came for our last darshan,” he said, pessimistically. 

Dehradun’s smart city project has resulted in endless road digging, road widening, water logging, traffic jams, bulldozing of slums, eviction of hawkers and tree felling. Long-time residents are not amused.

According to Himanshu Arora of Citizens for Green Doon, more than 25,000 trees have already been cut in one sweep for road building, road widening, and sundry other projects.

He says that, according to his calculations, another 40,000 trees are on death row — waiting to be chopped soon. These include 4,500 trees which will be axed for widening the Ballupur-Paonta Sahib road, 5,000 trees likely to be sacrificed for the Asarodi-Jhajhra four-lane Expressway, and 2,000 to build a reservoir to supply drinking water to the city from the Song Dam. Another 16,500 trees will be felled for building the infrastructure to supply drinking water from the Song Gravity Dam on the Song river in Dehradun district. 

The second demonstration on July 7 was held at Canal Road to protest against a proposal to cut down 200 trees, including mango and jamun trees, to widen the road.

For the time being, 240 trees have been saved, thanks to the unprecedented crowd of nearly 3,000 people who gathered to protest vociferously against the massacre of trees in Dehradun.