This is completely preposterous!

It is so shocking how invariably we always want to cut down trees, clear forests, paying no heed to the plight of the animals there and not to mention the impact it will have on our environment.

Apart from culling trees in the lush Aarey forest to make way for the Metro, it was very disturbing to read that Jharkhand’s forest department—in charge of the forests and their creatures—has approved a plan to cut 3.44 lakh trees in the state’s only tiger reserve. Parts of the Palamau Tiger Reserve will be submerged for a dam that is coming up at the site, for which 3,44,644 trees in the buffer area of the reserve will be axed.

This is a forest which probably holds tigers but the July 2019 All India Tiger Estimation (AITE) established that there were no tigers left in the reserve. Instead of this itself being a reason to mourn, the officials think that is legitimate reason enough cut trees.  But the state department said recently that they spotted 3 tigers in the region but the forest department says that they can be relocated to other forests.

This is more than outrageous! Why make tiger reserves & rejoice in heightened tiger numbers if "protected" tiger reserves don't have protection?  And truly, we are often left questioning the IQ of these officials who give a nod to such blatant abuse of environment, especially in rising risks of climate change.