MGP received a frantic phone call on Feb 23rd complaining that several trees were being felled behind ESI hospital on KRS road. When we visited the site, most of the cut trees had been already hauled away and so it was difficult to estimate exactly how many trees had been cut. It could be anywhere between 30 to 100. MGP called the forest department to inform them. Obviously, the department had not given permission to cut the trees. People from the department have visited the site and we were told that cases would be booked against the guilty.
It is surprising that such large scale violation of the law could take place without being stopped in the beginning itself. The incidence of cutting trees without obtaining permission from the Forest Department is increasing in the city. It is most essential that the department takes this violation seriously and does everything in its power to obtain exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of this crime. Otherwise more and more people will start breaking the law and soon Mysore will lose its green cover.
Maj.Gen. (Rtd.) S.G. Vombatkere, Mysore Grahakara Parishat