{"id":5413,"date":"2025-09-06T06:25:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T06:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/5413\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T06:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T06:25:11","slug":"haryana-tree-pension-rs-3000-a-year-and-long-red-tape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/5413\/","title":{"rendered":"Haryana tree pension\u2014Rs 3,000 a year and long red tape"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0At Tejpal\u2019s village, Pundrak in Karnal, five trees draw a pension \u2014 two on private land and three in the Shiva temple premises. The possibility of a pension is now making people think twice before they start eyeing old trees for felling.<\/p>\n

\n\"PranThree old trees in Pundrak\u2019s Shiva temple are enrolled in Haryana\u2019s pension scheme | Photo: Krishan Murari | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a small initiative with a big goal. People used to cut down old trees and didn\u2019t understand their importance,\u201d said Sunil Harsana, a conservationist in the Aravallis near Faridabad. \u201cThe amount is small but the message is big. Now awareness has grown and residents are applying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haryana, the state with India\u2019s lowest green cover, currently disburses a pension for 3,876 trees across 22 districts under the Pran Vayu Devta scheme, with the amount being increased from Rs 2,750 to Rs 3,000 this year. The brainchild of former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, it gives custodians an annual grant to care for qualifying trees: aged 75 or more, healthy, and outside forest land. The state government has identified 40 native species with ecological or medicinal value, including mango, neem, peepal, bargad (banyan), pilkhan and kaimb. Fallen, hollow or diseased trees are not eligible.<\/p>\n

Most pensioned trees are on panchayat properties, followed by private, institutional, government and religious land.<\/p>\n

\n\"PranGraphic: Manali Ghosh | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHaryana is the first state in the country to implement such a pioneering scheme,\u201d said Khattar during the launch of the scheme in October, 2023. He asked residents with trees of over 75 years to apply for pension by visiting the district forest department. This is what Tejpal\u2019s family did when they heard about the scheme in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scheme helps us to care for our decades-old tree properly,\u201d said Tejpal\u2019s son, 27-year-old Ravi Kumar, sitting on a wooden cot under the sturdy mango tree.<\/p>\n

I gave all the details about the tree to the official and gave them my bank account details also. Months have passed but I did not get the pension amount<\/p>\n

-Jagdish Singh, Anangpur resident<\/p>\n

These old trees are not just silent witnesses to the passage of time, but collectively crucial to mitigating the effects of global warming. Old trees store far more carbon than young ones and their deep root systems reduce erosion and slow down rainwater runoff.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the survival of old trees is threatened by urbanisation and development, compounded by the effects of climate change,\u201d said Pankaj Goel, Haryana\u2019s former principal chief conservator of forests.<\/p>\n

Environment experts say the scheme is largely symbolic but important in generating ecological awareness. Its guidelines note that logging, land use change and habitat loss are shrinking the population of old trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have stopped cutting trees in their backyards if they are over 75 and are instead applying for the pension,\u201d said Vipin Kumar, an Indian Forest Service \u00a0officer in Haryana. With a nudge from the government, villagers now gather around the pensioned trees on World Environment Day, worshipping them with tilak and garlands.<\/p>\n

However, hundreds of applications are pending in the forest departments of the state, and so it is likely to remain for the next few years. There is a cap of 4,000 trees until the scheme is reviewed after five years.<\/p>\n

Also Read: An IAS officer brought down Lucknow\u2019s garbage mountains. He\u2019s \u2018kalyug ka Hanuman\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A long wait\u00a0<\/p>\n

This unique and imaginative scheme is now getting drowned in red tape and delay. In many villages, residents who registered their old trees months ago are still waiting for the pension to arrive.<\/p>\n

That is the case even in villages at the foothills of the ecologically sensitive Aravallis, including Anangpur and Mangar Bani in Faridabad district, which has 53 trees covered by the scheme. In June, the district administration called residents for fresh registrations, but even those who signed up earlier have yet to see the money.<\/p>\n

\n\"PranA giant banyan tree at Badwali Chaupal in Anangpur village, Faridabad. It\u2019s registered for pension but hasn\u2019t received a payment yet | Photo: Krishan Murari | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

Payments were approved for four trees\u2014mango, neem, and peepul\u2014in Mangar Bani earlier this year, but not a single credit of Rs 2,750 has been received.<\/p>\n

In Anangpur, forest officials came a year ago to record details of a massive bargad tree at the Badwali Chaupal. The tree\u2019s branches give shade to several houses and there\u2019s always someone smoking a hookah under it.<\/p>\n

\n\"HaryanaA new bench sits under the centuries-old banyan tree pensioner in Anangpur | Photo: Krishan Murari | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave all the details about the tree to the official and gave them my bank account details also. Months have passed but I did not get the pension amount,\u201d said Jagdish Singh, a resident of the village that traces its roots to Anang Pal Tomar, the first ruler of Delhi. \u201cThis is one of the oldest trees of this area and it deserved the pension.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh claims the tree in question is more than 700 years old.\u00a0But the only new nod to its importance is a bench installed beneath it by the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad.<\/p>\n

Trees with paperwork <\/p>\n

Two years ago, Karnal forest officials came to Pundrak to spread word of the scheme. Tejpal applied, and soon they were in his field, inspecting the mango tree, asking questions, and jotting down the details.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe forest official inspected our mango tree and asked us about how old the tree is, who planted it and also checked the health of the tree,\u201d said Tejpal.<\/p>\n

\n\"KarnalForest department office in Karnal. So far, the district has covered 112 old trees under the Pran Vayu Devta scheme | Photo: Krishan Murari | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

The mango tree received the pension for 2023-24 though this year\u2019s payment has been delayed.<\/p>\n

The tree itself, however, has been a reliable source of income for the family for generations. Apart from what he earns in the milk business he runs with his son, Tejpal earns more than Rs 10,000 a year from selling mangoes from the tree, which his mother planted in the immediate aftermath of India\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

The ages of the trees were recorded based on ocular estimates and after enquiry from the senior villagers. The other parameters such as ownership, diameter at the breast height, crown diameter, geo-location, health status were also recorded<\/p>\n

-Vipin Kumar, forest service officer<\/p>\n

In Karnal, 112 trees are covered under the Pran Vayu Devta scheme, all but one in rural areas. This year officials inspected 54 more and the pensions are in process.<\/p>\n

For each tree, the forest department maintains a 21-column proforma, with details of the custodian, location, species, height, crown diameter, health status, ownership, and age. One column lists whether a tree is \u201ceconomically\u201d or \u201cmedicinally\u201d valuable.<\/p>\n

Every application is verified by a five-member district committee composed of forest officers, representatives from the deputy commissioner, panchayat bodies, the state biodiversity board, and range officers.<\/p>\n

\n\"MangoBesides a government pension, Tejpal\u2019s mango tree earns him over Rs 10,000 a year from mango sales | Photo: Krishan Murari | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ages of the trees were recorded based on ocular estimates and after enquiry from the senior villagers. The other parameters such as ownership, diameter at the breast height, crown diameter, geo-location, health status were also recorded,\u201d said IFS officer Vipin Kumar.<\/p>\n

He added that the pension of the trees will be hiked from time to time at rates proportional to the increase in the state\u2019s Old Age Samman Pension.<\/p>\n

The state marks each beneficiary tree with a green stone slab listing its species, age, village and the year it was added.<\/p>\n

\n\"BanyanA 90-year-old banyan tree in Pundrak, a beneficiary of the pension scheme | Photo: Krishan Murari | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

In Pundrak\u2019s Shiva temple stand three old banyans \u2014 aged 90, 230, and 290 years. Last year their pensions totalled Rs 8,000, credited to the account of sarpanch Naresh Kumar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave all the money to the temple. From that amount the trees are being taken care of and money was also invested in temple needs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rewari has the highest number of pensioned trees at 680, followed by Yamunanagar (536), and Fatehabad (335). Officials said no applications have been rejected so far.<\/p>\n

\n\"PranGraphic: Manali Ghosh | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

The scheme guidelines say it will remain operative for a period of five years, after which a review will be conducted. Until then, the scheme has a limit of 4,000 trees. A senior forest official said Haryana spends about Rs 1 crore annually on the programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a tree is under the pension, it is not allowed to be cut or damaged for any construction and development activities without the approval of the committee,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Also Read: No mafia, just driftwood\u2014Chamba forest dept on \u2018floating logs in Ravi\u2019 clips that even reached CJI<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Gods\u2019 with pensions<\/p>\n

Besides being on the government payroll, \u201cpension vale ped\u201d become celebrities once a year, garlanded and worshipped under banners of Pran Vayu Devta, which translates roughly to \u2018God of life breath\u2019.<\/p>\n

On World Environment Day, the Haryana government organises ceremonies across the state, with forest officers, deputy commissioners, and even the principal chief conservator of forests turning up to offer their respects to the leafy village elders. Ahead of the 5 June celebrations, the forest department even puts up posters at each site, declaring \u201cVishwa Paryavaran Diwas\u00a0Pran Vayu Devta.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, 507 trees were worshipped in Yamunanagar district alone. Residents circled the trees, performed aarti, and decorated them with vermilion tilak. This year in Fatehabad, where 335 trees draw pensions, residents took oaths to plant more trees and save electricity and water.<\/p>\n

\n\"banyanA 270-year-old banyan tree in Pundrak | Photo: Krishan Murari | ThePrint\n<\/p>\n

\u201cPran Vayu Devta Yojana aims to prevent felling of trees and promote environmental conservation,\u201d said Rao Narbir Singh, Haryana\u2019s wildlife minister at an event in Narnaul.<\/p>\n

Former principal chief conservator of forests Pankaj Goel attended one such celebration in Pinjore, Panchkula,\u00a0last year. He requested people to plant more trees.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonouring our Pran Vayu Devta trees through this statewide worship function not only recognises their ecological value but also reinforces our commitment to preserving Haryana\u2019s rich natural heritage for future generations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But in Anangpur, villagers are getting impatient for the pension of their beloved 700-year-old-tree, especially in the wake of thunderstorms and incessant rainfall. They are afraid the pension, when it comes, might be too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in the village knows this tree. Everyone has their childhood stories associated with it and it has been standing in the middle of the village for centuries. It should get a pension as soon as possible,\u201d said resident Gautam Bhadana.<\/p>\n

(Edited by Asavari Singh)<\/p>\n

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