Palamau, Jharkhand’s only tiger reserve will see the cutting down of 3,44,644 trees in the reserve for a dam to be built in that place. The dam project is called North Koel or also known as Mandal dam which will submerge parts of Palamau. Water Resource Department has got the permission to cut these trees down and they have also deposited ₹ 461 crores for the same, as per Hindustan Times.
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Trees from this reserve were chopped before for railway routes and road routes in the state of Jharkhand. “The reserve has already suffered significant damage due to expansion of the state’s road and railway network. Now, felling of trees will add further damaged to the biodiversity,” Jharkhand’s former state chief wildlife warden Pradeep Kumar who is against this move told Hindustan Times.
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Environmentalists and activists are against this move as it will further endanger the tiger reserve and will also destroy the balance in the ecosystem. As per the forest department of the state, there are 5 tigers in the reserve, which should mean that in order to protect them, the felling of trees must stop.
This will not only be a threat to the biodiversity and the tiger but also to the villagers living in the forest. It will impact the lives of nearly 15 villages in the tiger reserve.
The authorities have said that cutting down of these trees will start right after monsoon. This approval did not happen overnight as the environment ministry in the union had approved the diversion of approximately a 1,000 hectares of land in the year 2017.
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Twitter is filled with outrage from environmentalists and activists who are completely against the move.
#Jharkhand’s water resource department has planed to cut over 3,44,000 trees in Palamau #Tiger Reserve for Mandal dam project!
Why @moefcc why are you too determined to destroy our oxygen supply why are you too anxious to wipe off all wildlife?#Indiahttps://t.co/Y94MqJHZje
— Koushik Das?? (@koushikdas47) September 1, 2019
Why? Why are we doing this every-where? @dasraghubar @cmojhr@ForestryDeptJa @forestry
Over 3.44 lakh trees to be cut in Jharkhand’s Palamau Tiger Reserve | ranchi | Hindustan Times https://t.co/JNF86jmSr4
— Divya Modi (@divyamodi1702) September 9, 2019
Palamau Tiger Reserve is in danger and in the recent past the country has seen a lot of tree felling, this move will further endanger the balance in the ecosystem.