Summary:
BHUBANESWAR: The Dhenkanal administration on Saturday felled around 500 sal trees in Jhinkargadi forest of Balarampur village in the district to enable a private company to build a brewery. Once part of the village’s communal land, the forest, which has around 5,000 sal trees, has been tended to by the locals for generations. Male members of each household are known to patrol the forest to prevent timber mafia from cutting down trees. The government could have allotted a different patch of land to the brewery,” said Sushanta Dhala, secretary of Balarampur Gramya Parichalana Parishad, an outfit of villagers. Even the villagers of Balarampur are not allowed to snap off branches without permission of the village elders..