CHENNAI: The State forest department will be filing a petition with the Supreme Court, seeking consent from the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to remove and auction over 10,000 uprooted mature trees from Kanniyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary.
This is the first time a State is actually proposing to generate revenue by selling fallen trees inside a sanctuary. This is to prevent theft and smuggling. Majority of fallen trees are rosewood and teak, besides other timber species, that have high market value. It is estimated to generate revenue of several crores.
In November 2017, severe cyclonic storm Ockhi ravaged the districts. It was the deadliest cyclone to hit the Indian coast after the supercyclone of 1999. The storm uprooted thousands of trees in the sanctuary. S Anand, District Forest Officer (DFO), Kanniyakumari, told Express, “The number of trees that fell during Ockhi is still inconclusive and 10,000 was only a rough estimate. Post Ockhi, we would not completely survey the forest area as there were continuous rains and other challenges. We are now undertaking a comprehensive enumeration and marking of trees that can be removed safely.” He acknowledged that there had been two attempts of theft, which were thwarted by the forest staff.
Chief Wildlife Warden Sanjay K Srivastava said the petition will be filed shortly. “Our legal team has been informed. It has to be vetted by the Advocate General and advocate on record in the Supreme Court.” The Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has considered Tamil Nadu’s request and already granted approval for auctioning fallen trees.
The minutes of the 50th meeting of NBWL says, “The Standing Committee decided to recommend the proposal with the condition that the revenue generated, be used for the benefit of locals and conservation of Kanniyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining forests.” Also, the NBWL said removal of the fallen trees should be done in a phased manner so as to keep the anthropogenic disturbance at minimum level.
“The state government should prepare habitat improvement plan, wildlife conservation plan, and human wildlife conflict mitigation plan, which shall be implemented simultaneously from the above generated income.”