Guwahati: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has established a three-member team to identify the violators in connection with the alleged unlawful felling of 6,000 trees in the Corbett Tiger Reserve in the Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division of Uttrakhand.
An NGT panel chaired by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel stated that it is evidently illegal to cut down trees after reading the report submitted by the Forest Survey of India (FSI). The court ruled that due process must be followed in order to correct these infractions and repair environmental damage.
The bench in an order passed on October 21, 2022, stated that they constitute a three-Member Committee comprising the Director General (DG) of the Forest Department, DG Wildlife Department and the DG of Project Tiger to identify the violators and the steps required for restoration of the environment. Its report with specific recommendations may be furnished to the Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) within one month and the steps for further course of action in the matter will be finalised within the next one month. Till then the Project (which project) may not be allowed to proceed, order NGT.
The Tribunal has taken up the case on its own after learning from the media that 6,000 trees in the Corbett Tiger Reserve in the Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division of Uttrakhand had been illegally cut down. The Forest Survey of India (FSI) was tasked with determining the condition of these illegally harvested trees, it is further said.
The Tribunal took note of the FSI report that stated the GPS survey, which was completed by the FSI GIS team and the Google Earth images, had been used to quantify the area of clear falling at various sites.
The number of trees observed per hectare from all the inventory plots when multiplied by the area figures of a particular site gives the number of estimated trees fallen at that particular site. By adding the estimated trees at different sites, the total estimated number of trees felled arrives in the study area. The standard error of estimates has come out to be 10.31 trees, which is within the acceptable limit, the report said.
2.72 percent has been computed as the standard error, which is both low and acceptable. The FSI report said in its site-wise area of clear cutting and estimated number of trees fallen that the standard error was utilised to calculate the 95% confidence level for the estimated number of trees felled.