Forest officials suspended

THREE members of the Tamil Nadu forest department were suspended for mass
felling of trees, including teak, in the
Vallam forest belt of the Courtallam
range, Tamil Nadu. According to Manoj
Kumar Sarcar, district forest officer,
Tirunelveli division, he was informed
about illegal felling of teak tress.
Following this, he sent a team of forest
officials to comb the entire Vallam belt.

The team inspected the belt and
found 61 trees - 42 teak trees and 19
other trees - worth Rs 3 lakh had been
felled during the last four months.

On an enquiry, Sarcar found that
the four forest officials, including a
forester, had connived in the illegal
felling of tress. The accused were
released after paying a fine of Rs 80,000.

According to Sarcar, the only way to
check organised deforestation is by
keeping a close watch on forest officials,
because it is with their help that trees are
felled in a big way.