District Magistrate orders inquiry; committee to probe felling of trees in tea garden

Darjeeling: The Darjeeling District Magistrate has ordered an inquiry in the rampant tree felling case in Sourenee Tea Estate in Mirik. A committee has been constituted to probe the case.

On Thursday, photographs started doing the rounds on social media of a large number of trees being felled in Sourenee tea estate. The post triggered reactions like "old trees are being felled. We must stop this immediately," and some more including "we have to preserve our assets or we will be nowhere" and "loot in the Hills".

A team from the Federation of Society for Environment Protection (FOSEP) visited Sourenee Tea Estate. "More than 400 trees have been felled. These are mostly coniferous trees of the species Cryptomeria japonica. The rampant felling will cause widespread problems in the region, including drying up of water sources as well as make the area vulnerable to landslides. We will be seeking legal recourse on the matter," stated Bharat Prakash Rai of FOSEP.

"I have ordered an inquiry" stated S Ponnambalam, District Magistrate, Darjeeling. Commenting on the matter, Hari Krishna, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Kurseong, talking to Millennium Post, stated: "A committee has been constituted comprising the ADFO (Kurseong,) Range Officer, Bamanpokhari Range and the Block Land and Land Reforms Officer (BLLRO) to probe the matter. Based on the committee's findings, appropriate action will be taken."

On February 18, 2020, the Touzi department had granted permission to Sourenee Tea Estate for felling of 515 shade trees in the estate as prayed by the management and as per enquiry report of BLLRO Mirik and DFO Kurseong for the purpose of garden labour welfare works.

The Forest department had also issued necessary permission for felling of the 515 shade trees.

The management claims that owing to the pandemic and lockdown, the felling work could not be carried out since March 2020. In 2022, after things had normalised, they had reapplied for an extension of the order which was issued by the Forest department. After that, they had started felling the trees.

"On Thursday, hearing complaints from local residents, I visited the tea garden. In the recent past, more than 300 trees had been felled in the Suvitang section of Sourenee Tea Estate while the management claimed that only 34 trees had been felled then," claimed Arun Sigchi, former member of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and the general secretary of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM.)

"After the matter was brought to our notice, we had immediately ordered the management of the Sourenee Tea Estate to halt all felling activities till further order," stated Sudipta Debnath, SDO, Mirik.