Fatehgarh Sahib, September 18, 2017:
300 years old Banyan tree,spread in 3.5 acre of land is being considered to be the rare tree of village Cholti in Fatehgarh Sahib District.
Recognizing the worth of likely contribution of communities towards effective conservation & management of biodiversity rich areas’ existing outside protected areas, Punjab Biodiversity Board (PBB) has been undertaking regular efforts towards identification of biodiversity rich sites of the State for their conservation & management as Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHSs) u/s 37 of the Biological Diversity Act (BDA), 2002. Board has identified 6 potential BHSs from the State including Kaya Kalp Virkish (Great Banyan Tree) at village Cholti Kheri, Block Khera, District Fatehgarh sahib. This great banyan tree is around 300 years old approximately, spread over 3.5 acres of private land. The magical tree represents a complete ecosystem supporting rich biodiversity including colony of peacocks & owls & many other birds, several reptiles like snakes, monitor lizards, garden lizards, insects, arthropods, millipedes, nematodes and epiphytes, bryophytes, fungi, algae and lichens. The site is being conserved & managed with the active support of District Administration, District Fatehgarh Sahib and Biodiversity Management Committees set up by Board u/s 41 of BDA, 2002.
Dr. Amita Prasad, IAS, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India along with Mr. Amandeep Bansal, Additional Deputy Commissioner (G), Fatehgarh Sahib, Dr. Jatinder Kaur Arora, Member Secretary, PBB, Dr. Gurharminder Singh, Sr. Scientific Officer, PBB, Mr. Gurvinder Singh, Sarpanch cum Chairman Village BMC and members of BMC visited the site on 14.09.2017.
Dr. Prasad on behalf of Ministry appreciated the unstinted efforts of District Administration, Fatehgarh Sahib and Biodiversity Management Committee being carried out under the technical guidance of Punjab Biodiversity Board for the conservation and promotion of this magnificent site. She congratulated the Board, District Administration, BMC members for recognition of the community based conservation model of the site as the best practice from the State of Punjab by Govt. of India.
Dr. Arora highlighted that the Board has already initiated the process to get the site declared as the 1st Biodiversity Heritage Site of Punjab u/s 37 of Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and Rule 7 of Punjab Biodiversity Rules, 2016. Village BMC had already passed panchayat level resolution for declaration of Kayak Kalp Variksh as BHS and also ensured its conservation & management with the technical support of PBB. People Biodiversity Register of Village has been also prepared by the Board.
Gurharminder Singh shared the special achievement and unique opportunity facilitated by Board to showcase this potential Biodiversity Heritage Site to whole of the world. A documentary of the site has been recently prepared by Paris based production house “Camera Lucida” with the support of PBB for TV series titled ‘Tree Stories: Most Remarkable Trees of the World’. The documentary highlighted the activities of PBB especially interaction with the local populations and steps taken towards conservation and declaration of the site as BHS. Sh. Bansal, ADC (G) assured all the co-operation required from District Administration, Fatehgarh Sahib to manage and upkeep the health of the great Banyan Tree of Punjab. He also interacted with locals to discuss their other development related works in the village.