UP Forest Dept To Launch Online System For Tree-Felling Permits, Mandatory Sapling Plantation To Continue

The Noida Forest Department is set to launch an online system to streamline the process of obtaining permission for tree felling, aiming to eliminate the repeated visits residents previously had to make to departmental offices. Until now, although permission was mandatory for cutting trees, records were maintained manually, making tracking and verification difficult. The new digital system will allow all data to be stored and accessed securely.

Under the revised process, anyone seeking to fell, uproot, remove, damage or destroy a tree within the district must apply through the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department’s online portal. Approval will be granted exclusively by the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO).

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Applicants must provide the reason for felling the tree, along with details such as species, height, basal-circumference, and current condition, whether healthy, diseased, dying, dead, damaged or wind-fallen.

Before permission is granted, the Forest Department team will conduct an on-site inspection. For every tree felled, the applicant must plant ten saplings and deposit Rs 1,000 through instruments like NSC or Kisan Vikas Patra. The department will monitor the saplings until they grow into trees.

If an applicant does not have land to plant the required saplings, they must deposit a prescribed fee, after which the Forest Department will plant and maintain the saplings on its own land.

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Several species, including Shisham, Teak, Mango, Neem, Mahua, Peepal, Banyan, Gular, Pakar, Palash, Bel, Kusum, Asna, Jamun and Imli, fall under the restricted category. For these, applicants must submit an affidavit pledging to plant and conserve ten saplings, along with a permit fee and security deposit.

DFO Rajnikant Mittal said the online system will make the process significantly easier and reduce the burden on residents. “The process for obtaining permission to fell trees will be moved online. This will save people from having to visit the department,” he said.