Uttar Pradesh

• 15 Mar 2025

Taj Trapezium Zone

Why in News? 

On 5th March 2025, the Supreme Court directed the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) Authority to appoint the Forest Research Institute (FRI) to conduct a tree census in the zone . 

Key Points 

• Supreme Court Decision:  
  • According to the court, it is necessary to count the trees existing in the area to prevent any illegal felling. 
  • The court gave fresh directions that the purpose of the Uttar Pradesh Tree Protection Act, 1976 is to count and protect trees.  
    • Without tree census, the provisions of this Act cannot be effectively implemented. 
  • The court also upheld the need to obtain permission for cutting trees for agroforestry. 
  • In its 2015 judgment, the court had ruled that the provisions of the 1976 Act for agroforestry would continue to apply, which means that necessary permission would have to be taken before cutting any tree. 
• About Taj Trapezium Zone:  
  • TTZ is a designated area of 10,400 square kilometres around the Taj Mahal to protect it from pollution. 
    • It is so named because it is located around the Taj Mahal and is shaped like a trapezoid. 
  • It contains many monuments, including the three World Heritage Sites,Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri . 
    • This includes Agra, Firozabad, Mathura, Hathras and Etah districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur district of Rajasthan. 
  • The area is divided into four zones based on the category of industries, namely red, green, orange and white. 
  • Only environment friendly, non-polluting small, tiny and micro scale industries may be allowed to operate in this zone. 

Forest Research Institute (FRI) 

• FRI is located in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. This institute started in the year 1878 as Forest School. 
• In the year 1906, it was reestablished as the Imperial Forest Research Institute under the British Imperial Forestry Service . Later it was renamed as Forest Research Institute and College . 
• It has many centres across the country, which carry out research as well as provide training to forest officers and forest rangers.  
• After the reorganization of forestry research in the country and the creation of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE ) in 1988, the training and research centers were given the status of independent institutions. 
• The Forest Research Institute presently comes under ICFRE which was granted Deemed University status in December 1991.