‘Dol-Ka-Badh’ conservation movement: Activists begin hunger strike in Jaipur

Environmental activists began a relay hunger strike in the Rajasthan capital here on Thursday, even as deadlock with the government over their demand to save the green forest grove in “Dol Ka Badh” continued since last Sunday.

Three activists, DK Jain, Deepak Balian, and Vicky, began the relay fast at the dharna site here as the cutting of trees from the forest grove continued, organisers’ spokesperson and PUCL president Kavita Srivastava said.

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The sleuths of the state government and the Rajasthan Industrial & Investment Corporation (RIICO) continued cutting trees at the location and did not spare even Khejari or Shami (Prosopis cineraria) trees, which are designated as the state tree in Rajasthan, she said.

”The sleuths, in a fake concern for protection of trees, attempted to re-plant about 35-40 trees at different locations, however, their bid is unlikely to succeed as they did not retain sufficient rootbase while cutting them off,” Srivastava said, adding that they have so far chopped more than 200 huge and healthy trees.

”Our dharna has been on for the past three days. On Wednesday, our five-member delegation marched up to the state secretariat and submitted a memorandum to the Chief Secretary, Sudhansh Pant. We have conveyed to the government that our stir will continue until the due resolution of the issue,” the PUCL leader added.

“We were to hold a peaceful street corner assembly at the ‘Dol Ka Badh’ on Sunday to protest the cutting of trees by RIICO and the state government. The authorities did not allow, and since then, the deadlock is on”, Srivastava said.