'Firewood illegally stored'

“The firewood is being used to prepare food and to boil water for the tourists visiting the nature camp,” the locals said.

As per the instructions of the Central Empowered Committee and the order of the Supreme Court, even the dead and fallen trees or bamboos in the national parks or reserve forests cannot be cut.

“But the personnel of the Forest department themselves are involved in violating the rules by using the firewood from the reserve forest,” said environment activist Veeresh.

“If some poor people collect firewood from the forest for their livelihood, the department registers case against them. Now, the personnel themselves have violated the law. The DFO should take action in this regard,” urged locals Prashanth and Nagaraju.