Delhi: Why there is a whiff of discontent over growing of sandalwood trees

NEW DELHI: The forest department has issued tenders to procure sandalwood saplings for planting in different forest areas of the city.
Two different tenders for 1,250 trees each, for 2.5 to 3 foot saplings, have been issued for procurement and plantation in the south forest division at Asola and Bhatti. Officials said a similar tendering process might be followed for other divisions.

Sandalwood, Santalum album, is a species non-native to Delhi that will require more resources to survive, experts said. Earlier nowhere in the picture, the plan to plant sandalwood saplings was drawn up only after lieutenant governor V K Saxena earlier this month directed all the land-owning agencies maintaining parks, gardens or large tracts of land to plant over 10,000 sandalwood sapling across Delhi, highlighting their agro-forestry benefits, i.e. as a cash crop, with one mid-size tree selling at over Rs 12 lakh.
“Sandalwood is growing at a few places in Delhi, but their growth is not that good. In Punjab and Jammu, too, they are trying to grow it, but the results are awaited,” said a forest department official on the condition of anonymity.
However, experts said that while the non-native species would require both protection and nurturing, it could not be chopped due to Delhi Preservation of Trees Act 1994 that prohibited chopping trees in the city for commercial purpose.
“Sandalwood is a partial parasite, and it won’t grow unless it has a host tree as it extracts its nutrients from other trees. Though it’s capable for growing in dry condition, the species doesn’t grow here. There should have been a trial first,” said an official.
According to tree expert Pradip Krishen, taking care of these trees is important. The forest department should rather focus on native species as it have had bad experience with the non-native ones.
“They should have learnt lessons. Eight species when they first planted at the Ridge in early 1920s, like jamun, sheesham etc that don’t grow in the rocky area, survived only while they were given water, they died once the care stopped,” said Kishen.
“It’s just a simple thing, can they take care and focus on a single non-native species? This species will survive only when it’s cared for and nurtured; once the tending stops, it wouldn’t survive as it’s non-native,” he added.