Kaliapani: At a time when the government is pumping in crores of rupees to create new forest cover to battle global warming, the Orissa Mining Corporation Limited, a state government enterprise, is felling hundreds of trees illegally for constructing a concrete road here.
According to a report, the OMC is laying the road near Sukarangi village here in Jajpur district and has awarded the contract to another state government-owned organization – Orissa Construction Corporation (OCC). The latter has sub-let the project to three other contractors who have been mindlessly felling immature sal trees in a nearby forest. They are using the timber in the construction work, it has been learnt.
While the forest department doesn’t hesitate to seize firewood from the innocent tribals and register cases against them, implicating them even in timber smuggling case, the reason behind the generosity shown to the contractors has raised several questions, said some local residents.
Some villagers of nearby Kolipashi village had earlier informed Ransol forest ranger Ganeswar Das in this regard. However, the officer has not bothered to look into the matter, let alone taking any action against the guilty, the resident alleged.
Meanwhile, this correspondent tried to contact the ranger for his comment after spotting logs of some young sal trees being transported in a carrier. Unfortunately, ranger Das said he was out of station and would only take action on his return.
