Kumaraswamy: Cong MLA involved in timber theft

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy launched an indirect attack on Congress MLA from Virajpet AS Ponnanna accusing him of illegally acquiring timber.

He made the comments on the sidelines of the JD(S) office bearers meeting in preparation for the Lok Sabha elections slated this year.

The former chief minister made the remarks in the context of the arrest of Vikram Simha, the brother of BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu Pratap Simha. Vikram was arrested in a tree felling case in Hassan district and then bailed recently.

“How many people from your government were involved in the felling of trees in the Tarikere forest? Which MLA’s house did half the trees go to? The trees went into building the under-construction house of the MLA. Did you not know about this Khandre?” Kumaraswamy asked Minister for Forest and Ecology Eshwar Khandre.

Forest department officials from Bengaluru claimed that Vikram chopped off 126 trees in a wooded area of Hassan district and then smuggled and sold off the timber.

Khandre echoed the claims of the forest department officials, alleging that Vikram had violated laws such as the Forest Conservation Act and Tree Conservation Act.

The issue reportedly came to light when a Revenue Department official came across the land which is set aside as a pasture and saw that it was missing trees.

Vikram and his brother Pratap have called the arrest politically motivated.