Lost treasures

Haflong, July 18: Truck after timber-laden truck speeds past checkpoints in Nagaon. When guards on duty smell a rat and stop them, the drivers thrust valid forest department transit passes at them.

Treasures of the reserve forests of North Cachar Hills are being ferried out from where they belong to Guwahati and Meghalaya, right under the noses of forest guards.

The trucks take three major routes — the Umrangsu-Lanka-Guwahati, Mahur-Maibong-Lumding and Umrangsu-Shillong roads — which imply the involvement of people in the know and in positions of power.

“The smugglers and their accomplices in the forest department mislead the administration of neighbouring districts in two ways. Firstly, 15 to 20 truckloads of timber are transported against a single transit pass. Then fake transit passes are conjured up with the help of local forest officials,” a source in Umrangsu said. If he is to be believed, wood is not the only item being smuggled out. Deer meat and rare medicinal plants are on the list, too.

“Here, a kg of venison costs Rs 100 and a cubic foot of Sal costs Rs 250. Prices shoot up to Rs 400 and Rs 800 when the booty reaches Guwahati or Shillong,” he said.

The hill district, 80 per cent of which is covered by bamboo groves and woods, has three reserve forests — Langting Mupa, Krungming and Borraile. Besides, there are three proposed reserve forests — Hatikhali Mandardisa, Panimur and Borraile II.

A source in the forest department claimed that over 1,000 timber-laden trucks head out of the district every month, displaying formally issued transit passes.

“Generally, 300 to 400 such trucks cross different checkposts in Nagaon in a month. But as most of the drivers and forest staff on duty want to avoid official formalities, the checkpost registers cannot present a true picture,” he said.

Forest department records boast of joint forest management committees having brought a sprawling 1,200 hectares of forest land under afforestation programmes, spending more than Rs 1.50 crore in the last three years. Half of the green cover comprises bamboo, while medicinal plants and other trees have been planted in the remaining area.

Residents are, however, not convinced. “All this is only on paper. In reality, you will not find a single hectare of land where trees have been planted,” said Lal Bahadur, a Nepali villager from Gorampani.

Only a month ago, the district unit of the All Assam Students’ Union approached Dispur to demand steps to transfer all senior forest officials of Karbi Anglong and NC Hills who have completed more than three years in service in one location.