Madikeri: The recent rain and landslide havoc in Kodagu has uprooted thousands of trees. State Chief Secretary and the Deputy Commissioner of the district have entrusted the responsibility of clearing the uprooted trees to the Forest Department. But the forest officials are now faced with a piquant problem as the owners of the lands are squabbling over the ownership of trees !
Madikeri Region DFO Manjunath says that trees belonging to someone, on uprooting during the natural calamity, have fallen on the land of someone else thus ruling out the question of ownership. He has appealed the public to understand the situation and co-operate with the Forest Department to get the trees cleared. He added that the trees cannot be handed over to the land owners as it is impossible to authenticate the ownership of a tree.
