Bantala: Forest officials have reportedly chopped down large trees in Satkosia wildlife sanctuary to make space for the construction of a pond in alleged violation of norms, a report said Monday.
Apart from uprooting the trees, the officials are said to have burnt down the chopped trees in a bid to destroy evidence even as the Reserve Forest Act prohibits even the plucking of leaves inside forests in order to ensure protection of flora and fauna.
The matter came to light after forest officials were seen constructing a new pond to the left of a newly-constructed bridge on the Chhotkei-Tuluka road inside the Tuluka reserve forest under Purunakote forest range of the sanctuary. Residents lambasted forest officials over the move, saying their job is to protect the green cover and not destroy it.
The place where the new pond is being dug up used to have large timber trees like teak, sal, ‘piasal’ and ‘asan’ in the area. The forest officials have chopped down the trees and have uprooted them with the help of excavators.
They have also tried to destroy evidence by setting fire to the chopped trees, locals alleged. While the forest officials have banned residents from collecting dry twigs for their use, it has come as a rude shock for the villagers that the forest officials themselves are flouting the rules at will.
“The forest officials are doing the opposite of what they are supposed to do. In a bid to construct a pond for making drinking water available to wild animals, they have chopped down large trees and have even burnt them in flagrant violation of norms,” locals said.
The development has come as a surprise for wildlife activists and environmentalists who said that while they welcomed construction of ponds for animals, the arbitrary cutting of trees by the forest officials is condemnable.
Sources said wild animals are dying due to unavailability of drinking water inside the reserve forest. As a result, the forest officials are digging up ponds in the habitats of wild animal and their corridors inside the sanctuary.
However, they are defying all norms while digging the ponds. The forest officials with the help of excavators are uprooting large trees inside the jungle and digging up the soil for construction of ponds.
When contacted, divisional forest officer (DFO) SMDT Raheman of Satkosia wildlife division rejected the charges of cutting large trees and said only small trees were chopped down for construction of a pond. Moreover, the assistant conservator of forests (ACF) was at the spot during construction of the pond, it was said. PNN