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6,093 trees felled for proposed tiger safari project in Corbett: FSI report
The Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, said their findings are based on an analysis of old and new satellite images of the Corbett Tiger Reserve and field visit to the area concerned
Over 6,000 trees were felled in an area of 16.21 hectares for the proposed Pakhro tiger safari project in Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand, revealed a report by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun,based on an analysis of old and new satellite images and field visit to the area concerned.
The report which has been submitted to the central and state governments said that a total of 6,093 trees have been estimated to be felled for the Pakhro Tiger Safari in Corbett Tiger Reserve.
FSI is a premier national organisation under the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, and is responsible for assessing and monitoring the forest resources of the country regularly.
The 81-page report in its conclusion said, “The area cleared is estimated as 16.21 hectares. The trees estimated on this cleared area are 6,093 in number with lower bound of 5,765 and upper bound of 6,421.”
Asked on the FSI report, Vinod Kumar, principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Uttarakhand, said the department has made some detailed observations regarding the FSI report which they have sent to the institute, which is likely to be received by them by Monday.
“We want to know what timeline and which satellite images have they used, how have they arrived at this figure of 6,093, what method have they used in interpreting the data and issues like that,” he said. “According to our records, there was permission for the felling of 163 trees. But later we found that 97 more trees had been cut in the area. Now we want to understand how FSI has arrived at this 6,093 figure?” he added.
PCCF in a statement released on Saturday said, “After a preliminary examination of this report, there are several important technical issues which need to be resolved before this report can be accepted ...The forest department has not accepted this report in its present form.”
The Delhi high court on August 23 last year directed National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to look into the issues regarding illegal constructions, felling of trees and the construction of approach roads in Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) after Supreme Court lawyer and wildlife activist, Gaurav Bansal, filed a petition in this regard.
Following the court directions, NTCA constituted a committee on September 5, which inspected CTR between September 26 and September 30 and submitted its report on October 22 last year.
Bansal said the NTCA committee not only recommended vigilance inquiry against Uttarakhand Forest officers responsible for this but also urged the union forest and environment ministry to take strong action against the erring officers.
In October last year, the state forest department requested FSI to provide a clear status of the illegal felling of trees through analysis of satellite imageries in the Pakhro area, which falls in the buffer area of Corbett Tiger Reserve.
“Felling of over 60,00 trees as FSI reports shows that too inside forest area like Corbett is nothing but a national shame. Persons responsible for this must be sent behind bars”, said Bansal
In April, taking action against illegal constructions and felling of trees in Corbett, the state government suspended two Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers - JS Suhag, the then chief wildlife warden and chief executive officer (CAMPA) and Kishen Chand, the then divisional forest officer Kalagarh Tiger Reserve-- while CTR director Rahul (who goes by his first name), was removed from his post and attached to the office of the principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) Dehradun. In August this year, vigilance department registered a case against IFS Officer Kishan Chand and others for illegal constructions and felling of trees in Corbett Tiger Reserve.
Last month, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) constituted by the Supreme Court directed the Uttarakhand government to submit specific views on the “legality/illegality” of various activities undertaken within the Corbett Tiger Reserve and the adjoining forest divisions by various officers. CEC has also noted that the establishment of Tiger Safari within the Tiger Reserve will shrink the tiger habitat
