NEW DELHI: What is a tree? This has become the hot subject of debate in government circles since the huge controversy of large-scale felling of trees broke out in Delhi for redevelopment of seven residential colonies. While Forest Survey of India (FSI) defines any woody plant with a height of 4.5 feet and a diameter of 10 centimetres as a ‘tree’, the Delhi Tree Act claims the definition for woody plants that are more than one feet tall and with a diameter of five centimetres.

Sources said while the FSI norm of identifying a tree is followed by several states, there are others including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh , Uttarakhand and urban areas of Maharashtra which have their own norms. For example as per the Maharashtra (Urban Area) Preservation of Tree Act, all perennial plants are treated as trees and in Rajasthan all plants including palms, brushwood and canes are treated as trees.

“The definition of tree differs from state to state. In Haryana plants with 5 cm diameter are treated as trees. The original Indian Forest Act defined tree as a woody plant including palms, bamboos, skumps, brush-wood and canes. Bamboos were recently taken out of the list through an amendment in the law,” said a Haryana forest department official said. He added that FSI norm is largely used for remote sensing of tree cover.

TOI tried talked to a couple of renowned experts to seek their views, but they refused to discuss the matter saying the definition of a tree is a “controversial” issue. “There can’t be one-size-fits-all definition for trees as local conditions and requirement have been considered while specifying the norms,” a senior forest officer from Uttarakhand said.

Some of the government officials told this newspaper that the difference in the definition of trees has resulted in huge increase in the numbers of “trees” to be cut for infrastructure projects and hence there is a huge requirement of land to carry out the compensatory plantation.

The officials also cited that as per the norms laid by the Delhi forest department, for each tree cut 10 trees needs to be planted whereas the forest ministry norms put this in the range of two to 10 trees for felling of each tree. Delhi government’s rule also gives liberty to the tree officer to permit a lesser number of trees to be planted in different areas and even exempts any person from the obligation to plant or tend to a tree.

