Bengaluru: In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister H.D. Kumarswamy, Justice Michael F. Saldanha has urged the government to stop the indiscriminate felling of trees in Kodagu’s Cauvery basin.
He has explicitly mentioned the collusion of government officials along with the Kerala timber mafia. The letter read, “These people induce the estate owners and the government officials and indiscriminately fell the trees and transport timber to Kerala.”
The former judge was apprised by the Wildlife Society of Coorg that every tree in the territory harbours birds and bees and when they are axed the lives on it can neither migrate nor is the ecological ramification restored.
“Even this year where the rains have been good so far, because of the lack of green cover, the Cauvery water has brought down lakhs of tonnes of soil causing irreplaceable and permanent damage to the area,” he pointed out.
The immediate solution suggested by the former Justice is to plant the saplings in order to restore the ecology in the region.
He even addressed the issue of the cutting down of more than 12,000 trees that was presumed to be dangerous for the chief minister’s visit in Kodagu recently.
“The citizens’ of the state are entitled to demand that your government passes an order which must be publicly promulgated that no trees will be cut anywhere in the state to facilitate VIP movements. Order must be passed that all the green cover that has been damaged be restored,” Justice Saldanha requested.
