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Villagers in Uttarakhand fell more than 500 trees during lockdown period

Hindustan Times, Dehradun | By
Jul 04, 2020 02:43 PM IST

The residents of Gangi village cut the trees amid the lockdown restrictions, which were imposed in the hill state from March 22 to contain the spread of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, the officials said.

A section of residents of a remote village in Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal district allegedly felled over five hundred trees in the reserved and civilian forest areas in a bid to clear land for farming, forest officials said.

The residents of Gangi village cut the trees amid the lockdown restrictions, which were imposed in the hill state from March 22 to contain the spread of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, the officials said.

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“A joint team, comprising forest and revenue department employees, visited the remote Gangi village on Tuesday to conduct a preliminary probe and returned two days later. Gangi is the last village before the Khatling glacier starts in the Garhwal Himalayas. The village is located at a height of over 4,600 metres,” said Coco Rose, divisional forest officer (DFO), Tehri Garhwal.

“The inquiry revealed that the villagers had felled trees in the reserved and civil forest areas in a bid to clear land for farming. They tried to take advantage of the village’s remote location, which is situated about 60 kilometres away from Tehri town, and also the Covid-19 induced lockdown restrictions. But, much to their dismay, we got the information about their illegal activities,” the DFO said.

A case would be registered soon against the accused villagers based on the findings of the inquiry and necessary punitive action would also be taken, Rose added.

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