Illegal axing of 477 trees: Himachal forest official shifted

The Himachal Pradesh government Wednesday transferred an Indian Forest Services (IFS) officer in connection with the illegal felling of 477 trees on the outskirts of Shimla.

Earlier, the government had suspended three officials, including divisional forest officer Vinod Sharma.

Conservator (forests) Sanjay Sood, who was posted in Shimla circle, has been shifted, an official told IANS.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Nov 20 took a suo motu cognisance of illegal felling of the trees and issued notice to the chief secretary and the principal secretary (forests) to file their reply before Jan 8, the next date of hearing.

A case has been registered against Parminder Kaur, the owner of the land in the Tara Devi temple area .

Principal Secretary (Forests) Tarun Shridhar told reporters that a team of forest officials visited the site and found 477 trees, including deodar and oak had been axed.

"An inquiry into the large-scale cutting of trees is on and role of some more officials is likely to be exposed," a senior official associated with the inquiry told IANS.

In the report, the forest department pointed out that the owner of the land allegedly tried to burn the stumps and branches of the chopped trees.

The opposition BJP has demanded a probe into the incident by a sitting judge of the high court.