The Ministry of Forest and Environment of the Central Government has constituted a three-member special committee to enquire into allegations of alleged illicit tree felling in the Dharampur area of the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.
In a notification issued by Inspector General of Forests, KB Singh , “ I have decided to conduct an inquiry into the alleged illicit tree felling in Dharampur area of Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh by constituting a special committee .”
“ The committee will be headed by George Jenner, DDG Chennai,, as chairperson; Sanjay Chauhan, AIG from the Ministry of Environment and Forests,s, as a member; ; and Shushant Kumar (DCFF) ICFRE asa membe“rr, he added.
The committee will submit its report within three weeks.
The terms of reference of the inquiry as per the notification will be to enquire into the legality of permission for tree felling, examine whether the permissions granted comply with applicable acts , guidelines and relevant court orders , enquire into the legalityof stacked timber, enquire into the origin of timber not supported by documents , assess the quantum of illicit timber seized and action taken and address any other issue the committee deems necessary to investigate in relation to the matter.
CPM leader Bhupinder Singh, has been demanding an inquiry into the allegations of “ illicit felling of trees in the Dharmpur Assembly constituency against the company having alleged stakes of Dharampur MLA and his wife”.
Dharampur MLA said , “ Certain people are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill; the allegations against me and my family are baseless and unfounded, and I will soon issue a statement on the issue, as this is an attempt to tarnish the image of state government and defeat its various good-intentioned policies”, he added.
