BARNALA, May 20 -- Days after a joint committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recommended registration of a case and disciplinary action against Barnala officials for large-scale illegal felling and uprooting of trees on government land, the police have lodged an FIR against unknown persons.

The joint committee comprising representatives of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC) and the Punjab forest department, in its May 11 report, had recommended action against the officials allegedly involved in the drive carried out without mandatory permissions and under the watch of officials of the improvement trust.

However, the Barnala police registered ...