Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: Within two weeks, the Goa government has been asked to submit a report in a “sealed cover” detailing the Forest Department’s investigation into the Siolim tree felling case by the Bombay High Court in Goa.
The directive was given following the State Advocate General’s statement to the High Court that the Range Forest Officer had finished the incident investigation.
Nonetheless, the High Court requested a report and stated out loud that it was possible the investigation was a “eyewash” meant to hide the true offenders.
Attorney Norma Alvares, representing the petitioners, who are Siolim locals, emphasized that the Goa Tree Preservation Act’s one-year jail sentence or Rs. one lakh fine should be applied to the person(s) accountable for the tree-butchering.
According to Advocate Norma, those who illegally fell trees should be made to pay a fine and new trees should be planted in the same spot.
In a petition filed by the Living Heritage Foundation, she also brought attention to the Goa high court’s ruling, arguing that the act’s main goal should be the preservation of trees rather than their destruction. She emphasized that the state had acknowledged in the ruling that 88,978 trees had been cut down and that only 13,785 had been replaced.