THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A state-wide raid by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on 71 village offices unearthed lapses in the maintenance of ‘Number 7 Register’or the tree register. The tree register is to record information on trees classified as royal trees by the government located in revenue pattaya land.
The trees include teak, rosewood and Arjun tree. The Vigilance also checked whether the offices had recorded the information on trees in the possession certificate given to land holders and whether applications for tree felling mentioned the species.
The raid was in the wake of a tip-off to Crime Branch ADGP Sreejith that many village offices were not maintaining the register to help pattaya land owners who illegally fell trees. The vigilance found that the tree register was not maintained in the village offices at Kovilampara and Maruthonkara in Kozhikode, Neriyamangalam and Manjapra in Ernakulam, Ambalavayal, Krishnagiri, Muttil South, Thrikaipetta in Wayanad, Thamarakulam and Palamel in Alappuzha, Aralam, Kannavam and Ayyamkunnu in Kannur, Elanad, Chelakkara, Parayalam and Ilanjiprara in Thrissur.
The offices where pattayam registers were not maintained were Kovilamparam, Maruthonkara, Chakkittapara in Kozhikode, Ambalavayal, Muttil South and Thrikaipetta in Wayanad, Palamel in Alappuza, Kallikkad in Thiruvananthapuram, Punnala, Kulathupuzha, Thenmala, Thinkalkarikkam in Kollam. Vigilance Director Sudesh Kumar said the raid report will be sent to the government for further action. Vigilance IG H Venkatesh supervised the raids.
Tree register
The tree register (Number 7 register) is to record information on trees classified as royal trees by the government located in revenue pattaya land. The royal trees include teak, rosewood and Arjun.