Sal trees were infested on a massive scale by a wood boring beetle in 1996-97 in Mandla and neighbouring districts of Madhya Pradesh. Remedial tree felling was conducted under the guise of ecological action, exposing the economic undercurrents. The government investigations conducted mostly by the state forest department were mere cover-ups. Following the central government and Supreme Court directives prohibiting tree felling, the pest attack has declined, falsifying the official speculations of an intensification.
