Team Herald
PANJIM: Coconut trees in Goa will soon lose the status of trees with the cabinet on Friday approving an amendment to the Goa Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984. The decision included omission of Sec 1-A and inclusion of coconut tree in Section 12-A, “Removal of trees” etc, which are in ruinous or likely to fall.
The cabinet also decided to amend Section 2, modifying the dimension of tree prescribed under the act to 5 centimeter in diameter at a height of one meter from the ground, which is presently 30 cms from the ground.
Further Section 9 (i) regarding ‘Procedure for obtaining permission to fell or cut or dispose off tree’ is also amended to include number and kind of trees to be cut, their girth measured at a height of 1 meter from the ground level.
The cabinet note reads, “During the amendment of Goa Preservation of Trees Act during 2008, Section 1A was inserted in the Act to include provision for removing and disposing of trees which pose imminent danger to life or property. The provisions of the original Act were not applicable to coconut tree, and was brought under the purview of the Act in 2008 by insertion of Section 1-A regarding definition of term tree and Section 12 A regarding removal of trees etc which are in ruinous state or likely to fall. Though the amendment was intended to include coconut tree only for this specified section of the Act all the other provisions of the Act became applicable due to lack of adequate clarity. Hence it is now propose to delete Section 1-A and include coconut trees in Section 12-A.”
The cabinet, which met Friday afternoon, also approved increasing the compounding fees for cutting trees from existing Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000.
The cabinet also approved the amendment to Section 25 for increase in maximum fine to Rs 1,00,000 from existing Rs 1000.
