Tree felling for road construction: Forest officials arrest 5 tribals
On the other hand, the arrested tribals denied their involvement in felling of the trees. They claimed that their houses are located more than a kilometre away from the road construction site.
Published: 25th March 2023 10:58 AM | Last Updated: 25th March 2023 10:58 AM | A+A A-
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BARIPADA: Days after issuing notice to the Rural Development (RD) department and a contractor over the felling of 67 trees for road construction, forest officials of Baripada territorial division arrested five tribals in this connection on Friday.
The arrested persons are Banka Bihari Singh (45), Goura Singh (32), Gopal Singh (35), Samnath Singh (32) and Chaitan Singh (33), all from Jhinei village in Mayurbhanj’s Shamakhunta block. Divisional forest officer (DFO) Santosh Joshi said the tribals were arrested for their involvement in chopping the trees illegally for the construction of an RD road between Jadipal and Jhinei villages. Notice has also been served on the RD department, Baripada circle and the contractor who chopped the trees with help of the arrested persons without permission.
On the other hand, the arrested tribals denied their involvement in the felling of the trees. They claimed that their houses are located more than a kilometre away from the road construction site. “We are innocent. To protect RD officials and the contractor, the Forest department registered a false case and arrested us,” they alleged.
Around 25 days back, the contractor engaged in road construction chopped at least 67 sal and other valuable trees in Jadipal forest located on the foothills of Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) with the help of cutter machines and labourers. When local villagers opposed the felling of trees, they were allegedly threatened.
After the incident came to fore, the Forest department formed a team led by an ACF to investigate the matter. Based on the probe report, a case was registered against the contractor and RD department. Forest officials also seized around 130 logs of the illegally felled trees.
