Kottayam (Keralam), Oct 16 The Keralam Forest department on Friday withdrew a circular asking officers to consider applications to fell trees on land assigned before January 1, 1977, officials said.
The circular, issued by D K Vinod Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests, Kottayam (High Range Circle), on October 8, instructed forest officers to consider applications for tree felling on such land and verify the status of the holdings while processing the requests.
Officials said the circular was issued following complaints from landowners to the Forest Minister during his recent meetings in Kottayam and Idukki districts.
It instructed forest officers to ensure that applicants were not subjected to undue hardship while preventing large-scale tree felling that could harm the ecology, they said. However, after the circular became public, environmentalists raised concerns about its potential misuse and the risk of large-scale tree felling, similar to the Muttil tree-felling case in Wayanad, where a government order was allegedly misused to cut down several valuable trees.
Officials at the chief conservator of forests’ office said the Forest minister’s office had directed the withdrawal of the circular following the criticism.
They added that no application had been processed under the circular so far.
(PTI News)
