Mangaluru: The Department of Forests has given a go ahead to chop off about 5,000 trees spread over 14 acres of forest area at Sakleshpur, Hassan, to make way for the Yettinahole Project.

However, the permission of cutting down trees has come along with several conditions, one of them being that once the project was executed, a land of equal size had to be handed over to the Department of Forests where trees would be grown.

Organizations and activists fighting against the project had filed cases that trees were being cut without permission. Sources say that the National Green Tribunal is likely to issue final orders shortly.