Deep resentment is brewing among the villagers of Sikuan Khurd village under Khariar block in Nuapada district as Forest officials have cut thousands of trees of indigenous variety at Kara Jungle at the village for creation of new economic forest.
Though the villagers have filed a complaint at the office of the Khariar DFO protesting the indiscriminate felling of trees, the tree cutting drive is still continuing, alleged a villager.
“The forest on over 20 acre land having trees like Karla, Kendu, Aanla, Harida, Bahada, etc has been cleared. These trees had been growing naturally for the last 15 years after the local farmers started protecting them. We don’t know why the Forest officials have started clearing these all of a sudden even after our opposition,” said Darasing Bisi, a farmer.
It is learnt that the Forest Department plans to plant trees on more than 50 acre of land under the programme ‘Economic Plantation’. As no waste or degraded land is available, the department decided to clear the green lush forest of Kara jungle located in the north of Sikuan Khurd village for taking up the plantation.
About 20 acres of forest have already been cleared till now and more to be felled in next few days to make room for economic plantation.