KOZHIKODE: The state forest and wildlife department has estimated that a staggering 775 reserved trees on assigned land were cut from just four districts -- Thrissur, Wayanad, Kasaragod and Malappuram districts.
While Thrissur accounted for 579 trees, 161 were cut in Wayanad, 22 in Kasaragod and 13 in Malappuram. Among the 775 trees, 634 are teak and the rest rosewood. All the trees were cut from land allotted title deeds (pattayam) based on the controversial order issued by the revenue principal secretary on
October 24 last year.
The estimation of felled trees is in progress in Ernakulam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Kollam.
Logs yet to be recovered fully in Thrissur
An officer told The New Indian Express that the estimation is not over yet in Thrissur district and that 135 cubic metres of logs have been recovered so far. "A majority of the trees felled were in Machad and Pattikad forest ranges in Thrissur," said the officer, who requested anonymity. Among the trees cut in Thrissur, 95% is teak.
In Wayanad, besides the 101 rosewood felled in South Muttil, the revelation of which brought the issue into the open, 60 teak trees were axed at Puthankunnu under the Sultan Bathery range. However, an insider confided that 70 teak trees were actually felled in Puthankunnu and that 10 were not recovered.
In Kasaragod, the trees were cut from Nettanige, Padre and Panathadi while Nilambur accounted for the trees cut in Malappuram.
Timber worth several crores
Though the forest department is yet to calculate the value of the felled trees, sources said it would run into several crores. "The average value of rosewood per cubic metre is Rs 2 lakh, and around Rs 75,000 for teak. A teak tree usually comes to around 0.75 cubic metres while rosewood measures around 3 to 4 cubic metres per tree," a top official said.
The timber price would go up in the auction and the wood from Wayanad would get more money as it is in high demand overseas.