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ShareBangalore: A Central inspection team is said to be upset with the way the state government had allowed tree felling and construction of roads in Pushpagiri wildlife sanctuary in Kodagu district.
Members of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), set up by the Supreme Court,visited the sanctuary earlythis month and inspected the areas under litigation.
According to highly placed sources in the forest department, the three-member CEC team comprising chairman Jai Krishna, secretary Sanjeev Chadda, and member Mahendra Vyas found that the state government had violated the general rules governments follow in protecting wildlife sanctuaries.
The apex court's directive for the inspection came in the wake of a case filed by Air Marshal KC Cariappa (retired) for the protection of Pushpagiri, Brahmagiri, and Talacauvery sanctuaries that are home to evergreen and semi-evergreen forests.
The CEC officials inspected the 11-km road inside the Pushpagiri sanctuary.
A 2-km stretch was constructed in 2006-07 and another 2-km road was asphalted. To construct the remaining 7-km stretch, trees were extensively cut in December 2008.
The team also inspected the 23-km stretch that connects Somwarpet to Subramanya and cuts through Pushpagiri sanctuary via Heggademane. Here hundreds of trees were cut withoutpermission from the ministry of environment as per the Forest Conservation Act 1980. They surveyed all areas where massive treefelling took place violating the forest conservation act.
The then deputy conservator of forests in Madikeri had given permission to fell trees standing on private lands without clearance from the Central government.
These construction activities had taken place without any sanction from the chief wildlife warden, the state board for wildlife,the National Board for Wildlife,or the forest advisory committee of the ministry of environment and forests, a copy of the petition said.
For three days, the CEC members inspected the disputed areas. But even before submitting their report to the Supreme Court, the CEC members appeared to be quite upset over the scenario in the sanctuary, sources said.
Heritage status sought
With over 35% of its total geographical area under evergreen forest cover, Kodagu is counted among the greenest districts in India.
Pushpagiri wildlife sanctuary islocated in the northern part of Kodagu. It is home to rare and endangered birdlife and is designated as one of the important bird areas of the world.
The rich Kadamakkal reserve forest is a part of the sanctuary. Pushpagiri is the highest peak in it. Kumaraparvatha is the other peak that lies within it.
The sanctuary adjoins Bisle reserveforest to north and Kukke Subramanya forest range to the west. The sancutuary has been proposed as a World Heritage site.
Forest Conservation Act 1980
No state government or otherauthority shall make, except withthe prior approval of the Centralgovernment, any order directing:
That any reserved forest (within the meaning of the expression 'reserved forest' in any law for the time being in force in that state) or any portion thereof, shall cease to be reserved.
That any forest land or any portion thereof may be used for any non-
forest purpose.
That any forest land or any portion thereof may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any private person or to any authority, corporation, agency or any other organisation not owned, managed or controlled by the government.
That any forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in that land or portion, for the purpose of using it for reafforestation and which resembles a forest area.
