Badasahi: People of Suhagpur panchayat of Dukura Forest Range in Badasahi block of Mayurbhanj district held a protest Friday against illegal axing of around 100 trees in the village and reserved forest.
Villagers gheraoed the forester, secretary of the jungle committee and forest officials and informed Dukura Forest Ranger and DFO about the matter. They also detained loaded timber trucks. But no official came to the spot till evening.
The villagers detained the village committee secretary as he had forged their signatures.
Sources said that storms had uprooted hundreds of trees in both the village as well as the forest. Forest officials and village committee members decided to clean them up by removing the uprooted trees.
As per rules the trees damaged in natural calamities have to be distributed equally among the village committee and the Forest Department. The Dukura forest ranger was informed about this through a letter August 3, 2019.
The process to remove the trees was organised by the Forest Department for eight days in the forester’s presence. But villagers said Forest officials cut down more trees than what was allowed by the department.
The villagers complained to the DFO about the illegal axing of trees August 1, 2019. Despite complaints by the villagers the illegal felling of trees continued due to the good equations between Forest officials and timber smugglers.
When Van Surakshya Samiti member Laxmi Singh was asked about this, he said the meeting had been told that the Forest Department will cut 50 trees and the remaining will be distributed among the villagers. But Forest officials and timber smugglers cut down 130 trees.
The villagers warned the forest ranger and the DFO that they will launch protests if steps are not taken to stop the illegal felling of trees.
PNN
