Residents in a district of the Indian state of Punjab who want to buy a gun face an unlikely new hurdle: to secure a firearm licence, they must plant at least 10 trees. Applicants in Ferozepur district are required to send photos of themselves with their saplings to officials, as well as follow-up pictures a month later to prove they are caring for their trees.
More than 100 applications have been received since the rule was introduced last month, with residents planting kikar and neem trees across the district. The northern state of Punjab, which was engulfed by a violent insurgency throughout the 1980s and 1990s, has a well-established tradition of gun ownership. There are almost 360,000 active gun licences across the state, among the highest in the country, according to government figures.
Chander Gaind, the district’s deputy commissioner, hopes that the new rules imposed on licence applicants could lead to 12,000 saplings being planted each year, helping to boost the district’s green cover and replenish its water sources.
