Inquiry marked into tree felling at Mirzapur

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

The Forest Department has marked a probe into the large-scale felling of khair trees in Mirzapur forests during the lockdown. The state Vigilance team has been conducting surprise checks over the last few days to ascertain the veracity of complaints of illicit tree felling.

AIG, Punjab (Vigilance), Ashish Kapoor said the checking was done to ascertain whether the felling of 2,000 trees had been carried out as per the permits granted by the Forest Department.

State’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Jatindra Sharma said the Conservator of Forests (Shivalik) had been asked to probe the entire matter and submit a report at the earliest.

As per information, the Forest Department had issued permits for felling of 2,000 khair trees in Mirzapur on the basis of special permission granted by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

Guidelines state that the felling had to be completed by March 15 and logged wood had to be moved to the store by March 31. But there are reports of the felling continuing till mid-April amid the lockdown when there were strict guidelines of only essential services being allowed.

The rules do not allow felling of trees with less than 2 ft diameter. But trees with less than 2 ft diameter have also been felled.

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests said the fact that felling went beyond March 15 during the lockdown needed to be verified.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Guraman Singh claimed that the felling had taken place before March 15. Due to the lockdown, the logged wood had been lying in the store of the contractor.

The Conservator of Forests (Shivalik) said though the probe report was awaited, an interim report revealed that 130 trees had been illegally axed. The damage reports had been submitted and the fine was realised from the contractor engaged in the felling of trees.

A similar complaint had surfaced from Dulwan village. The DFO, however, claimed that in Dulwan, the felling had been done as per the permits issued.