India, Nov. 2 -- Three days after environmentalists and tribals residing in the Aarey forests complained about debris and soil being dumped inside the forest, on Saturday forest officials cleared the soil and registered a complaint against the contractor involved.

On Wednesday, the locals of the area saw over three trucks of soil and debris being dumped onto an empty area of the forest between 4pm and 6pm. The next morning, they awoke to a nearly 6,700 sq.ft. of area levelled by the debris and soil, said a forest official. As per the forest official's panchnama, an area of 30m by 30m had been raised by a height of 1.5m.

The environmentalists and tribals then made several complaints to the officials about the illegal dumping, highlightin...