PANAJI
Minister for Forests Rajendra Arlekar tabled the Goa Preservation of Trees (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which not only seeks to remove the coconut tree from the definition of tree but also seeks to change the definition of what constitutes a tree.
Under the new bill, a tree is defined as “any woody plant whose branches spring from and are supported upon the trunk or the body and whose trunk or body is not less than ten centimeters in diameter at a height of one meter from the ground level.”
The unamended Act defines a tree as “any woody plant whose branches spring from and are supported upon a trunk or body and whose trunk or body is not less than five centimeter in diameter at a height of thirty centimeters from the ground level and is not less than one metre in height from the ground level.” See pg 3
