Several fully grown up trees illegally cutted near Pithoragarh Base hospital. Locals protest demanding stringent action !
In Uttarakhand, illegal deforestation is taking place under the guise of so called unfriendly development in various environmentally unfriendly projects but in several locations clandestinely massive cutting of fully grown up trees is also taking place under the guise of building resorts, camps, hotels, residential complexes, roads etc without seeking proper permission from the concerned authorities. There are even several instances of forest land being allegedly clandestinely sold to the builders by corrupt officials clandestinely even changing their status on records and constructing resorts or hotels on them. In Kumaon division near base hospital in Pithoragarh city hundreds of fully grown up trees have been illegally cutted under the guise of road construction , though the former state minister of Uttarakhand Mr. Lunthi and Sarpanch, Van Panchayat Mr. Kedar Singh Lunthi who visited the site said that they haven’t been shown any permission nor have they accorded any pre information about the illegal felling of trees on such a large scale. Some of the locals have protested at the site where about five hundred trees have been mercilessly cutted illegally. Trees are our lungs who give fresh oxygen and kill carbon dioxide. If trees will be cutting so rampantly and jungles wiped out the human civilization will be at stake said the protestors. In Uttarakhand unfortunately such illegal deforestation is taking place rampantly without seeking any permission by contractors and builders etc in league with the authorities. Kindly recall that few months ago several videos have surfaced in social media in connection with a construction of a luxury hotel in Yamkeshwar and subsequent construction of an illegal road on the government land in which several fully grown trees were cutted. The hotel was owned by the sons of former minister Prem Chand Aggrawal and Rajya Sabha MP and president of Uttarakhand BJP Mahendra Bhatt who have uttered highly objectionable words against the Paharies and andolankaries. The FIR has already been lodged against the son of Prem Chand Aggrawal in this regard after the media hype. A video was also posted in social media just a day or two ago in which the Commissioner Deepak Gupta has personally visited a place in Kumaon division where in the name of construction of resorts or Tourist camps several trees were cutted. Commissioner Deepak Gupta has taken the contractor and the staff present to task and instructed his subordinates to immediately take legal action against the contractors and proprietor of the camp who has illegally cutted several trees under the guise of building a tourist camp without seeking any permission.
