PANJIM: The manner in which Leading Hotels in connivance with the Forest Department has gone plundering the forests of Tiracol would make even the crime of double jeopardy look like a saintly act. Further to the report of Herald titled “Nailed: Leading Hotels had no permissions to cut a single tree in Tiracol when they invaded the village on May 14/15”, published on June 23, it is learnt that each of the six key conditions that are mandatory to be fulfilled with every tree permission was scoffed at.
The Forest Department, knowing that the tree felling permission granted to Leading Hotels on July 8, 2014 had expired and that their application for renewal is still pending, went ahead and renewed the permission to fell 155 trees of miscellaneous species, on May 20, 2014, five days after Leading Hotels entered Tiracol and terrorized villagers and cut trees. On May 15, Leading Hotels did not have permission to touch a single tree.
Even if they did have legal permission to fell trees on the night of May 14/15 which they didn’t, the permission would have been conditional to the following actions. They were:
1) Range Forest officer shall mark the trees before cutting.
Status: There is no confirmation from the Range Forest Officer on whether he had marked the trees.
The ground report is that not a single tree, which was felled, was marked. This has been confirmed by two organisations fighting for the land of the locals
2) Permission to fell trees “is granted at his/her own risk” and “without prejudice to the claims of other persons who may be having any right over the land of trees”. (Thus the claim of the people of Tiracol that Leading Hotels overpowered them and cut trees by force in their land has to be seen as a valid claim)
3) Material produced from felled trees shall not be removed or disposed without permission of the tree officer.
Status: Most of the timber felled was put on trucks and timber laden trucks moved out of Tiracol, under the strict supervision of Leading Hotels. There is no evidence on record that there was written permission from a tree officer to mover timber out, and that too after it was illegally felled.
In case the Forest Department or Leading Hotels shows that they did have permission from a tree officer, the Forest Department will be in further trouble because Herald will then ask, if Leading Hotels did not have valid permission to fell trees on the night of May 14/15, how did the tree officer give permission to move the illegally felled timber out.
4) He/ she shall replant trees during the next planting season June 12 to September 12 “in the property from where trees will be felled”. In the earlier permission they received, they were supposed to replant 465 trees. Assuming that the earlier permission was revalidated, this re-plantation has to happen. But here’s the catch. Since they felled the trees on a day they did not have permission, Leading Hotels needs to be prosecuted, which they have clearly not.
No ordinary company of person gets away with such blatant violations without State protection of an illegal kind. And out interviews with Forest officials will prove how their silence speaks volumes.
