Gondia, Jan 9 (PTI) Villagers on Tuesday stopped workers of the forest department from cutting down trees on a forest land diverted to a private company for iron ore mining in Maharashtra's Gondia district, an official said.

Tree felling was undertaken on 17.04 hectares of forest land near Manegaon village, which has been diverted to a private company for iron ore mining, in-charge range forest officer (RFO) Ravi Bhagat of Amgaon range said.

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The village sarpanch and residents came to the site and asked workers to stop the axing of trees, he said, adding that the villagers have been asked to give their objection in writing, and the same will be submitted to senior officials.

According to the RFO, 3,000 trees that are more than 20 years old will be felled.

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The land that had been diverted for mining is a crucial habitat for blackbucks and wolves, sarpanch Prakash Meshram said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)