WARANGAL: A cloudburst with strong winds last month flattened around 500 hectares of the forest region and uprooted more than one lakh trees, said chairman of the State Forest Development Corporation (FDC) Podem Veeraiah after inspecting the forest region between Thadvai and Medaram here in Mulugu district on Wednesday.
Podem Veeraiah visited Mulugu district to inspect the damaged forest region. The forest officials who received him showed the photos of the disaster that occurred in the night on August 31.
Accompanied by the forest officials, Veeraiah went into deep forest region by walking some distance and inspected the damaged forest and trees that were uprooted.
Later speaking to media, Veeraiah said dense forest region flourished with thousands of varieties of trees, plants, herbs and shrubs. They had been damaged badly with the sudden cloudburst causing a huge loss of forest wealth worth lakhs of rupees.
The forest officials along with an expert team and other departments are carrying out a survey and after completing it, the report will be submitted to both the state and the central governments and will be taken to the notice of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
The government is ready to take necessary steps for restoration of the forest by planting saplings that can easily grow despite all kinds of adverse environmental conditions.
He ordered forest department officials to prepare proposals about the requirements that are needed for the development of the forest along with preparing a report estimating the loss.
Officials of concerned departments must work in coordination with each other and with commitment for protection of the forest. “If we protect the forest, they will protest us,” he said.
