Bolangir: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Odisha, innumerable trees were chopped off to create a helipad near Bolangir railway station here. Modi is scheduled to address a rally January 15. Several green enthusiasts and nature lovers have expressed resentment over the mindless felling of trees for a helipad at the district headquarters town.
Bolangir Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sameer Satpathy, however, has ordered an investigation into the matter. Sources in forest department said 30,000 saplings were planted across the town in 2015-16 and 2016-17 under the Urban Plantation Programme with an investment of `10 lakh. As many as 3,500 saplings were planted near the railway station.
More than 3,000 trees have been uprooted by unidentified persons, possibly for the prime minister’s helipad, said a forest department official.
An investigation would be carried out to ascertain the circumstances under which the forest was devastated without prior permission of the concerned officials, said the sources.
“We have received allegations of deforestation to create a helipad. As per the directions of the DFO, we will visit the spot and ascertain the number of trees chopped off for the purpose,” said Bolangir Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Babaji Charan Raul.
Notably, this will be Narendra Modi’s third visit to Odisha within three weeks. He is expected to launch a slew of centrally-funded projects worth `1,545 crore Tuesday, official sources indicated.
Modi, who toured Bhubaneswar and Khurda December 24 and Baripada earlier this month, will visit Bolangir, where he is scheduled to address a rally, besides inaugurating and laying foundation for a few development projects, mostly in railway sector, they said.
The Prime Minister is expected to dedicate to the nation electrification of Jharsuguda-Vizinagaram and Sambalpur-Angul lines, spanning 813-km, completed at a cost of `1085 crore.
The project will ensure seamless rail connectivity on the line and reduce running time, a senior railway official said. It will also reduce diesel consumption and lead to reduction of Green House Gas emissions. Modi will also dedicate the doubling of 14.273-km of Barpali-Dungaripali and 17.354-km Bolangir-Deogaon road lines, completed at a cost of `189.3 crore.
This forms part of the 181.54-km Sambalpur-Titilagarh doubling project. Among other railway projects, Modi will dedicate a Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) at Jharsuguda, built at a cost of `100 crore. Two days after Modi’s rally in Bolangir, BJP president Amit Shah is slated to visit Odisha January 18 when he will meet booth-level workers in Cuttack, a senior BJP leader has revealed.
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