Trees chopped at south Konkan wildlife corridor; foresters assaulted, violators booked

Despite a Bombay high court order declaring the Dodamarg-Swantwadi belt in south Konkan as a no tree felling zone, local residents have been booked for assaulting

Despite a Bombay high court order declaring the Dodamarg-Swantwadi belt in south Konkan as a no tree felling zone, local residents have been booked for assaulting forest officers and indiscriminate tree felling in the area.

Large number of trees were cut across a two-acre patch near Bambarde village in the proposed wildlife corridor area in Dodamarg taluka on June 4. (Maharashtra forest department)

According to the forest department, members from the youth wing of the state’s ruling party Shiv Sena in Sindhudurg district managed to cut large number of trees across a two-acre patch near Bambarde village in the proposed wildlife corridor area in Dodamarg taluka on June 4.

The two-acre area falls within the ambit of deemed reserved forest with over 50 small trees. Around 20 large trees allegedly uprooted by residents, said forest officers.

“On receiving this information, our team went to the site to file a punchnama and assess damages when we faced severe backlash from locals who abused and assaulted us, and asked us to leave the site,” said Dayanand Kokre, range forest officer, Dodamarg, one of the assaulted officers.

V Clement Ben, chief conservator of forest, Kolhapur said the team was directed to rush to the nearest police station and file a complaint. “We are yet to assess the total loss of trees, which were uprooted using an excavator machine (see image). The violators are on the run and we expect law will take its own course,” he said.

A first-information-report (FIR) was filed against four persons - Madan Rane, Dayanand Rane, Sandesh Rane, Suraj Rane, and Daulat Rane in violation of section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) by the police, said Samadhan Chavan, deputy conservator of forest, Sawantwadi. “They are all in the age group of 30 to 35. Additionally, we have filed a preliminary offence report (POR) in violation of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, for illicit tree felling,” he said.

Chavan added that the area used to be a private forest but was acquired by the state in 1978 under the Maharashtra Private Forests (Acquisition) Act, 1975. It was later declared as deemed reserved forest. “Locals had objected to this as they had not received compensation, and the case is in litigation. But this does not give them the right to cut trees.,” he said.

Sena politician Vinayak Raut, elected Member of Parliament from the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency said, “Planting of trees in private forest areas is being done by locals on land belonging to them but there is a strict ban on any tree felling. Everyone is aware about it. I will take stock of the matter to check what happened at the site,” he said.

The Bombay high court (HC) in 2013, based on 2011 petition by Awaaz Foundation, had directed the Union environment ministry and state to ensure the corridor is protected as an eco-sensitive area (ESA) where mining and red category industries are prohibited. The HC had reiterated its order in 2018, based on NGO Vanashakti’s petition in 2016, declaring the entire belt as a ‘no tree felling zone’. “It is shameful that forest officer’s are being attacked for doing their duty. The minister concerned needs to take action to ensure there is deterrence in such cases,” said Stalin D, petitioner.

A local forest officer requesting anonymity said, “The area had mixed plantation before being felled and following our intervention, the accused claimed they wanted to plant cashew trees. However, basic investigation with locals in the area revealed that they had planned to build a resort, and not less than 150 trees have been uprooted.”

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

The Dodamarge-Sawantwadi corridor is home to tigers, leopards, elephants, sloth bears, civets, pangolins, several resident and migratory bird species, and even the Indian giant squirrel (Maharashtra’s state animal). The forest department confirmed that over the past five years, transient movement of close to 25 tigers has been observed at the corridor while an elephant family of five reside there.