Pakhrau Tiger Safari: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday issued an interim stay on the construction of the Pakhrau Tiger Safari in Uttarakhand. The decision was taken after the NGT took cognizance of a report that claimed at least 600 trees have been illegally cut in Corbett Tiger Reserve of the Kalagarh Tiger Reserve Division.
Further, a three-person committee has been formed and instructed to make a report on this by a bench presided over by NGT's chairperson Justice AK Goel. The green panel argued that accountability for such offences needed to be fixed and environmental harm must be repaired after due process of law.
"Accordingly, we constituted a three-member committee comprising DG, Forest Department, DG Wildlife Department and DG, Project Tiger to identify the violators and the steps required for restoration of the environment," the bench said in a statement.
It further said that the committee is expected to submit a report to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) with specific suggestions within a month.
"The steps for further course of action in the matter be finalised within the next one month. Till then the project may not be allowed to proceed," the bench said, adding that the Forest Survey of India (FSI) was asked to assess the status of illegally cut trees.
According to the FSI report, more than 6,000 trees were illegally cut down to construct the tiger safari in the Kalagarh forest division of Corbett Tiger Reserve.
Earlier, the Uttarakhand forest department had taken the approval of the Union Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change for the tiger safari project, saying only 163 trees will be cur for the project.
However, the FSI said in its report that a total of 693 trees were cut down over 16.21 hectares of land in place of 163 for the Pakhrau in the Kalagarh forest division tiger safari project.
(With inputs from PTI)
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