Vadodara: Forest department staffer among three held for chopping off 677 trees

VADODARA: Three persons, including a forest department staffer, were arrested on Wednesday for chopping off 677 fully grown trees in Shinor taluka of Vadodara. A local court remanded the trio in police custody until March 11 on Thursday. Accused Arif Mansuri was given contract for chopping off 691 trees for broadening a 12-kilometre stretch of Segva-Malsar road. Arif along with sub-contractor Imran Mansuri chopped off additional 677 trees under supervision of in-charge range forest officer Kaushik Parekh. Forest department officials said that the additional trees which were chopped off include peepal, gulmohar, neem, banyan among others. The value of these trees is Rs45 lakh, cops said.
According to police, forest department had given permission in June 2018 to remove the trees so that the road can be broadened. The department had put markings on the trees which were to be removed. While removing the marked trees, Arif and Imran removed additional trees on both sides of the road. Parekh was responsible to make a daily report of the trees being chopped-off, but he did not report about the additional trees which were removed.
When the forest department learned about the irregularity, an inquiry was conducted by an assistant conservator of forest and the trio was found responsible. Based on the inquiry report, an FIR for cheating and criminal breach of trust was registered at Shinor police station on Wednesday and the trio was arrested. The accused have, however, not revealed what they did with the chopped trees. “Along with chopping off trees, the contractor was also responsible for disposing them off. They would have sold them off to some timber traders,” said a police official.