Fifty MLAs, cutting across the party lines, have sought a law on lines of the Maharashtra Tree Act to save the vanishing forests of Orissa. They have also demanded action against timber mafia. In a memorandum to Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, the legislators have said that illegal tree felling is setting the exchequer back by Rs 5 crore daily and if the trend continues, the entire green sylvan wealth of the state is bound to disappear. Besides, they have argued that the depletion of forests would hit the livelihood of 1.10 crore tribals, harijans and other economically backward classes who depend on collection and sale of minor forest produce like sal and kendu leaves.