Panjim: While it is now known that the Forest officer batting for Leading Hotels at Tiracol, MV Karkhanis (DCF North) issued the first lot of permissions to Leading Hotels to fell 155 trees, it is crucial to underline that this was given barely five days after Leading Hotels entered the village illegally and destroyed trees, in the presence of bouncers.
They had no permission to cut any tree on the intervening night of May 14/15. An FIR was lodged by the Round Forester of Pernem on May 18 and on the very same day, the Range Forest Officer wrote to the Judicial Magistrate First Class, stating that the FIR on the brutal act of Leading Hotels of butchering trees, in the presence of bouncers, “had substance”. VP Gawas the Range Forest Officer said that the FIR “discloses commission of cognisable offence, Violation of Sec 8 of the Preservation of Trees Act 1984. On preliminary enquiry is found that there is substance in it.”
Shockingly, two days later, on May 20, 2015, with an FIR of illegal felling against Leading Hotels intimated to the Judicial Magistrate First Class pending, the same Forest department (DCG North) , re-issued the permission given to the company to fell 155 trees, on July 8, 2014, “by revocation of abeyance order dated 9.7.2014”. While the fraudulent justification of this decision on the basis of manipulated records to show that the area does not come under private forests, has been exposed, it is appalling that this was done in the back drop of an FIR pending for illegal tree felling.
Leading Hotels may cry hoarse that the two are unrelated but here, a Forest department, entrusted with the task of protecting trees and vegetation, has decided to allow a company to fell trees on May 20, 2015, when the same company had, five days ago, made an illegal road by felling trees on Survey number 6 to construct a road to enable the company’s truck access to survey nos. 4 and 5 for the main construction to take place.
The Forest department did not stop here. On 11.06.2015. DCF North MV Karkhanis granted Leading Hotels further permission for felling 94 trees, with over 90 of those trees being forestry species. All this was done supposedly under the Goa Prevention of Trees Act.
Meanwhile, there is no word on the FIR filed on May 18. An act of illegality has been suppressed and the violator of the tree act has been rewarded with formal permission to cut a total of 249 trees to pave the way for the construction of grand villas. The Chief Minister of Goa has further put a stamp to this illegality by saying that Leading Hotels, a big investor cannot be turned away. So what if they destroy our forests.
(This series ends but the crusade for justice for the people of Tiracol continues. Herald will be back with more)
