The trees being cut down. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

Alipurduar, March 17: The pradhan of the CPM-ruled Majherdabri gram panchayat has been accused of illegally felling around 500 trees on either side of a road, which is being widened.

The trees that have been cut down even before they matured are black sirish, gamar, teak, jarul and shishu, all planted along the 6.5km-long Haldibari Road under the social forestry scheme in 1990.

The place is on the outskirts of Alipurduar town.

L.G. Lepcha, the field director of Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR), said panchayats should get the forest department’s permission before cutting trees planted under the social forestry scheme.

According to Lepcha, under this scheme, if trees are felled, an equal number of saplings should be planted.

The pradhan, Sankar Barman, while admitting that he had instructed the chopping of trees for widening the road, said he did not deem it necessary to seek permission from the forest department.

Lepcha said he had asked deputy field director of the BTR (West) to conduct an inquiry into the incident.