Timber mafia axed 705 ‘royal trees’ in 4 districts
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Forest dept. investigation and compilation in different districts beneath means
An ongoing investigation of the Forest Department has discovered that 705 ‘royal trees’, rosewood and teak are categorised so, on land assigned beneath the Kerala Land Assignment Rules, 1964, have been axed in 4 districts in the State.
These timber had been felled by a timber foyer in Wayanad, Thrissur, Malappuram, and Kasaragod districts misinterpreting a authorities order.
While 161 timber, 101 rosewood and 60 teak, had been felled in Wayanad, 509 timber, together with 500 teak and 9 rosewood, had been lower from Thrissur. As many as 11 every big rosewood and teak had been felled in Kasaragod and 13 teak timber in Malappuram, sources stated.
The Forest Department has launched a State-wide probe into the allegation of unlawful felling of reserved timber. The investigation and compilation in the opposite districts are beneath means, the sources stated.
The large felling of endangered tree species comparable to rosewood got here to mild after a group of forest officers seized 54 items of rosewood logs value ₹60 lakh from a sawmill at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam on February 9. The logs had been transported from Wayanad after felling it from income pattaya land beneath the quilt of the controversial order issued on October 24, 2020.
The police registered instances in opposition to 68 individuals in reference to the felling of timber in Wayanad and charged them beneath Section 379 (theft) of the Indian Penal Code. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002, was additionally just lately invoked in opposition to them as per a route of the particular investigation group constituted by the federal government to probe the scandal.
Judicial probe sought
Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday moved Governor Arif Mohammed Khan demanding a judicial inquiry into the theft of rosewood timber from assigned land in South Muttil village in Wayanad.
In a petition, Mr. Chennithala advised Mr. Khan {that a} cabal of ruling entrance politicians, timber thieves, corrupt officers had robbed the forest wealth beneath cowl of an order that enabled farmers and tribes to promote hardwood timber they’d grown on their land.
(With inputs from Thiruvananthapuram bureau)