No tree cutting in Punjab without approval

December 27, 2025

Punjab is an agricultural state. Its agriculture is so renowned that it is called the granary of the country. However, after independence, modernity, urbanization, and legal and illegal industrialization have brought about a situation where agriculture and the once lush green Punjab are losing their greenery.

Due to deforestation, the forest area has been shrinking. A situation of lack of greenery has arisen everywhere. A petition has been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court stating that due to indiscriminate deforestation in Punjab, the green cover is even less than that of Rajasthan, which is known for its desert landscape.

Hearing the petition, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed that those who are pursuing their own interests must be stopped from cutting down trees in Punjab. The court even said that now not a single tree will be cut without its permission. The court said that this is a serious situation. The court is concerned that if trees continue to be cut down in this manner, there will be no trees left in Punjab.This must be stopped now, otherwise, a situation will arise where trees will disappear and tall buildings will be seen on barren lands. While hearing the petition, the court expanded its scope and ordered a complete ban on cutting down trees anywhere in Punjab.

The public interest litigation that was filed initially raised the issue of cutting down 251 trees for the construction of three roundabouts in Mohali.The petition stated that trees are being cut down indiscriminately for various projects, resulting in irreparable damage to the greenery. The Punjab government had also imposed a condition that for every tree cut down, five times the number of saplings would be planted, and they would have to be taken care of for five years.

The petition stated that this order is vague. It doesn’t even specify what kind of saplings will be planted if a fruit-bearing tree is cut down. Undoubtedly, this law has not been followed with commitment. This is why the forest cover in Punjab has shrunk to just 3.67 percent today, the lowest in the country. Even Rajasthan, known for its desert landscape, has a higher forest cover at 4.07 percent. The tree conservation policy formulated by the government is not being properly implemented. Now, the High Court has attempted to prevent the situation from worsening by imposing a complete ban on tree felling for the time being.