Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Sunday ordered an immediate halt to felling of trees from the community forest of Balarampur in Odapada block of Dhenkanal district and ordered the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (North) to look into the matter.
The Chief Minister instructed the RDC to probe the incident in the wake of a scuffle between the police and local people over felling of trees by the administration to facilitate construction of a brewery.
The locals were protesting against the administration’s move to cut down over 950 trees for the brewery project of a private firm, even as the administration promised to plant twice as much saplings to compensate for the loss, an official said.
The agitators, mostly women, had clung to tree trunks in their attempt to stop the felling of trees, leading to a tussle between them and the police officials who were deployed in the area to ensure smooth operations, the official said.
The locals claimed they have been nurturing the trees for decades to create a community-developed forest, the official added.
As many as 13 protesters, including three women, were taken into custody as a “preventive measure” and later released on bail, Dhenkanal superintendent of police Santosh Nayak said.
An official at the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said: “Patnaik issued an order Sunday to stop the cutting down of trees in Balarampur area of Dhenkanal. He has also asked the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC-North) to conduct an inquiry into the incident.”
As the area was not notified as “forest belt”, it was declared an “industrial estate”, Dhenkanal sub-collector Pitambar Samal told reporters.
“A forest patch, spread over 12.5 acres, was identified by Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco), the nodal agency for facilitating land for industries, for setting up the beer factory,’’ he explained.
The Chief Minister laid the foundation for 14 industrial units November 3, including the beer plant, through video conferencing from Bhubaneswar.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) termed the Chief Minister’s order to put a stop to tree-felling as meaningless and an afterthought following a backlash from the community.
Criticising the Chief Minister’s move to order an inquiry, MLA Narasingha Mishra (Cong) said the “operation was illegal” as no proper procedure was followed before cutting down the trees.
“What is there to investigate now? The Chief Minister could have easily found out the facts through his officials. Moreover, the operation would not have been possible without his knowledge,’’ he suggested.
BJP leader Pradeep Purohit said the state government’s decision for an RDC probe is of no use as the damage has already been done.
‘‘It seems some ministers and bureaucrats are operating without the knowledge of the Chief Minister. The RDC probe into the incident is of no use as the damage has already been done with the felling of hundreds of trees. The order is only to pacify the public,’’ he said.