Ranchi, June 22: Charges of corruption are flying thick and fast in the war between timber merchants and the forest department that was triggered by the cancellation of sawmill licences.

The Timber Traders’ Association (TTA) is coming out with advertisements in newspapers, accusing Ranchi divisional forest officials of cancelling the licences of some sawmills in and around the capital by using “unconstitutional means”.

The traders have also come out with a series of “open letters” posing queries before the department challenging the officials to reply.

TTA office secretary S.K. Verma told The Telegraph: “They talk of corruption but do not they realise that they are corrupt as well. Is it not corruption that the officials force a mill to shut down if one of the business partners goes away or dies? Is it not corruption to close a mill if the father (in a father-son duo partnership) dies? There is a provision while registering a sawmill for one to write down the expected income amount that the mill is likely to earn every month.”

Verma alleged that the divisional forest officer cancelled the licence if the income fluctuated. “Is it justified? After all, this is business and fluctuations in income occur. The licence of Annapurna Saw Mills was cancelled on the grounds that it was registering a low output every month,” he said.

“We have never demanded that inspection of saw mills be stopped by the forest department officials. We only demanded that we should be informed in advance. The department does not consider this and there are instances when the DFO took action against the mill when he found no mill official at the time of inspection,” said Verma.

The president of the TTA, Suresh Chandra Poddar, said, “The DFO, Manoj Singh, is trying to close all the sawmills unconstitutionally. Four sawmills have been closed by the DFO and many more might follow. If this goes on, 90 per cent of the mills will be closed in the future. The DFO says he is doing all this based on a Supreme Court directive. This is false and we challenge the department to show us such an apex court order. If it is true then we will abide by whatever the department says.”

The association alleged that there have been cases when the DFO accused a mill of wrongdoing and makes a judgement of the mill's fate on his own. “How can a man accuse and pass a judgement on his own? All these issues have led to the start of this agitation and will continue till we get justice. If this goes on, the sawmill owners will remove all contact with the BJP,” said Poddar.

The forest officials, on the other hand, fired their salvo at the timber merchants. Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) J.L. Srivastava alleged that cases related to timber theft, amounting to more than Rs 15 to 16 crore, are being registered every year.

“It is clear who the real culprits are since it is only the traders who deal in timber and bring it to the market. They talk of corruption, but see who is corrupt,” Srivastava said.

“They talk of stopping the inspection of the saw mills. If we agree to their demand it would lead to a complete anarchy since it would mean giving a freehand to the traders. There would be no check on them and this is totally unjustified,” said Srivastava.

Dismissing all allegations against the DFO, Srivastava said, “I do not think that DFO Manoj Singh has cancelled the licenses on unconstitutional grounds. He must have acted according to the provisions under the law.”

Srivastava added that the main issue about which the traders were flustered about was a provision under the Partnership Act.

“What the traders want is unjustified. If a mill is in the name of a father-son duo and the father dies, how can it get transferred in the name of the son? If a sawmill is not registering a substantial output per month, what is the use of letting it continue?” he said.

He said the matter has been referred to the law department and that the forest department officials were waiting for a direction before taking any decision. Around 65 to 70 sawmills in and around the state capital have indefinitely downed their shutters in protest against the forest department.

A joint meeting will be held tomorrow between the traders and the different associations in the state capital in a move to turn this protest into a mass agitation.

Talks of TTA members handing over the keys of different sawmills to the chief minister is also under consideration, said a TTA spokesman.