BANGALORE: Environmentalists have questioned the forest department’s removal of 22 sandalwood trees from the Rajiv Gandhi National Park in Nagarahole in January. While the department claims the “old” trees were felled by elephants and justifies removing them to earn revenue, environmentalists don’t buy the argument.“Where is the need for forest officials to remove sandalwood trees? Is the government in need of such revenue generated out of the sale of sandalwood?” asks an environmentalist, on condition of anonymity.It all happened when the Deputy Forest Conservator of Hunsur Division informed the Chief Conservator (Tiger project), Mysore Division, about the alleged dry and uprooted sandalwood trees at the Rajiv Gandhi National Park in Nagarahole Range. He said a few wild elephants had uprooted sandalwood trees. The Chief Conservator then wrote a letter (No GL-1921/2010-11, dated 15-10-2010) to the Principal Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Bangalore, seeking permission to remove the sandalwood trees. The Principal Conservator gave his nod (CR 48/10-11, dated 6-01-2011) to shift 23 sandalwood trees against a request to remove only 22 sandalwood trees. “On what grounds did the Principal Conservator increase the number to 23?” asks the environmentalist.When contacted, B K Singh, the Principal Conservator, defending his permission to remove the trees, says, “We are not supposed to remove any trees or wood from the forest. However, I gave permission to the authorities concerned to remove those sandalwood trees to generate some revenue for the state government and prevent attacks on forest department staff by sandalwood smugglers.” Environmentalists found the RTI reply strange, considering discrepancies in the number of trees felled against the number mentioned in the Principal Conservator’s letter and over blaming elephants for the uprooting of as many as 22 trees.
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