An Ecocritical Analysis Of Arshad Chahal’s Novel Bayad Gali

Abstract

Arshad Chahal is a renowned novelist, poet, and playwright, born in 1960 in Saadat Pur village, District Gujrat. He has written poetry in both Urdu and Punjabi and has authored one Punjabi novel and two Urdu novels. His Punjabi novel, Cheeran Di Chhaan, has won the Waris Shah Award and the Masood Khadar Posh Award, both conferred by the Academy of Letters. Chahal's novel Bad Gali was published in 2004. In this novel, he beautifully describes the environment and ecological pollution, creating a sense of reality for the readers. He highlights deforestation as a significant cause of increasing environmental pollution. Trees are crucial for human survival, and their removal leads to issues such as global warming, landslides, floods, and both air and soil pollution. The illegal and forceful logging by the timber mafia, along with the limited resources of forest departments, contribute to the depletion of forests. The indiscriminate cutting of environmentally friendly trees is further exacerbating environmental pollution.