Ludhiana Even as lakhs of trees are being chopped for various development works, a recent report of Forest Survey of India (FSI) has presented a pleasant surprise for Punjab. As per the report, the agrarian state has registered an increase of 100 square kilometres of in 2010-11.

The figure is highest in the country. Out of the eight states that registered an increase, Jharkhand is placed second (60 sqkm). Incidentally, Haryana could increase its forest cover by only 9 sqkm, while the hill state Himachal Pradesh couldn’t even achieve 5 sqkm target, says the FSI report.

Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, is for the past one year, trying to find a way to control the gall disease that has affected almost 50 per cent of the eucalyptus trees being grown in the