Illegal saw mills are wiping out greenery in the city and its suburbs.

A survey by forest department officers has revealed that in North 24-Parganas alone, 529 saw mills run illegally. These are, in turn, being fed by trees felled illegally.

?We?ve conducted a survey to assess the number of illegal saw mills operating in the districts of south Bengal over the past six months. So far, we?ve identified 529 illegal mills, apart from the 42 licensed units,? said A.K. Chakrabarty, divisional forest officer of Barasat. In areas like Salt Lake, Lake Town and Barrackpore, 317 such illegal saw mills operate.

?Licences are granted to three types of saw mills. Primary licence is given to those who process logs after felling the trees. Secondary licence is given to mills that treat the processed logs to make wooden planks and bars needed to make furniture. The third kind uses only imported wood,? said a forest range officer. ?But the total number of licensed saw mills is only 42. The rest are all illegal.?

According to the survey, these illegal saw mills mostly belong to the first category, which means that a large number of trees are being felled and immediately processed.

Most of these mills operate on the roadside, in full view of administrative officers. A middle-aged tree of common origin, about 15 to 20 ft high, can fetch anything between Rs10,000 to Rs 20,000, while a grown mahogany or teak tree fetches over a lakh after processing.

To add to its woes, Bengal government doesn?t have any law governing police action against offenders who fell trees in non-forest areas. Police can only move a case in court against the offender and leave it to the court to initiate action against him.

Though forest officers are aware of the existence of these mills, they can hardly do anything about them. ?This problem is acute in five districts of the south Bengal, as this is non-forest land and we cannot impose our rules in these non-forest areas. Moreover, infrastructure is a major problem,? Chakrabarty added.

According to the officers, most roadside trees are being cut illegally. These grew in public works department (PWD) or on government vested land.

Officers say offenders take advantage of the absence of any law and lack of coordination among government departments.

According to existing laws, the agency to whom the land belongs will be the custodian of the trees grown on it.

?We?ve received complaints about trees being felled beside VIP Road and Kalyani and Barrackpore highways, under the PWD. We are short of both manpower and infrastructure,? admitted Amar Chowdury, PWD minister.