Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, May 20
Just days before the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections came into effect last month, the Maharashtra Government handed over forest land that is part of a tiger corridor to a private manufacturer of hand grenades and ammuntion.
State forest department officials said nearly 88 hectares of forest land, part of the tiger corridor near Bor-Pench-Melghat tiger reserves, had been handed over to Solar Industries India Ltd for setting up the ammunition manufacturing facility. Though the land does not fall within the tiger reserve, at least half-a-dozen tigers are known to inhabit the forest area, officials said.
The company has been given permission to cut nearly 1,800 trees in the actual project area of around five hectares, official said. The rest of forest land in the firm’s possession has been classified as safety zone. Sources say the company had sought allotment of forest land since it already has an ammo making facility at Chakdoh. Though the firm had requested for the forest land a decade ago, the Maharashtra government sat on the proposal following opposition from environmental groups.
The government’s own National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had classified the forest land as part of the tiger corridor. Apart from the big cat, other wild animals also moved on this land en route to water bodies, according to officials.
Meanwhile, officials said the company has undertaken compensatory afforestation elsewhere in the state.
1,800 trees to be axed
- The Maharashtra Government took the decision just days before the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections came into effect
- Nearly 88 hectares of forest land, part of the tiger corridor near Bor-Pench-Melghat tiger reserve, have been handed over to the private firm
- The company has been given permission to chop down nearly 1,800 trees in the actual project area of around five hectares, official said
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2El16Bi
via Today’s News Headlines
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