DEHRADUN: A dispute has erupted between the Forest Survey of India and the Uttarakhand Forest Department after 6421 trees were cut in the Corbett forest area for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project Pakhro Kalagarh Tiger Reserve division.
The Forest Survey of India in its report on September 6, this year has found that around 6421 trees have been cut in Corbett Tiger Reserve where the Prime Minister's dream project Pakhro Tiger project is underway.
The FSI has also discovered that apart from illegal tree felling, around 16.21 hectares of land in Corbett Tiger Reserve has also been cleared by forest officials of the Uttarakhand forest department.
The FSI has surveyed the area of Corbett Tiger Reserve following a complaint lodged by Wildlife conservationist Gaurav Kumar Bansal with the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Bansal told, "It is not that the Uttarakhand forest department has requested the FSI to survey the area. In fact, the Ministry of Environment and Forests had requested FSI to conduct a survey.
The questioning of FSI by the state forest department shows the lack of trust in the country's premier agency, which is extremely unfortunate.
Interestingly Principal Chief Conservator of forests, Uttrakhand Vinod Singhal on Saturday asked the Forest Survey of India to provide a detailed report on the illicit felling of trees in Pakhro Kalagarh Tiger Reserve division.
Talking to TNIE, Singhal further clarified that this report has been not been received in the office. After a preliminary examination of this report, there are several important technical issues which need to be resolved before this report can be accepted".
Rejecting the report released by the FSI on the felling of such a large number of trees, Singhal said, "There are many serious and important questions on the tabulation of the number of trees allegedly cut and the sampling technique used to arrive at this number, on which the Forest Survey of India has been asked to provide the detailed information".
The Pakhro Kalagarh Tiger project has now reached a controversial juncture with three major bodies, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and Forest Survey of India (FSI) themselves alleging irregularities in the implementation of the project.
It was also brought to notice that apart from the illegal felling of trees in Corbett Tiger Reserve (Asia's first national park that has a maximum density of tigers
from anywhere in the world), several illegal buildings within the core area of Corbett Tiger Reserve were constructed by Uttarakhand forest officials.
The Forest Survey of India has found in its survey report that around 6093 trees have been cut in Corbett Tiger Reserve, where the Prime Minister's dream project Pakhro Tiger project is going on. The FSI has also found that apart from illegal felling of trees, around 16.21 hectares of land in Corbett Tiger Reserve has also been cleared by forest officials of uttarakhand forest department.
In 2019, the Prime Minister trekked in the forest of Corbett Reserve in Uttarakhand with Bear Grylls and after the said visit, the construction of was announced by the Uttarakhand government as the prime minister's dream project.