Unchecked felling has depleted the state?s forest cover

Dhubri, Feb. 24: Despite a ban on felling and transportation of log, there has been no let-up in the illegal timber trade, which is being carried out in flagrant defiance of the law-enforcing agencies.

According to official sources, of the 13 designated sites for reserve forests, six areas on the south bank of the Brahmaputra under South Salmara-Mancachar sub-division of Dhubri district were included in the Dhubri forest division on February 1, 2006. But in terms of total forest cover, it has lost a vast area to the newly-created Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) because seven proposed reserve forests carved out of the Dhubri forest division have been included in the new set-up.

However, all that remains in these designated sites are stumps ? results of unchecked felling.

The few remaining forests areas and unclassified forests are allegedly under the control of a ?big timber mafia? whose writ runs supreme in the forests and valuable trees are felled at whim for supply to local markets and Bangladesh.

Two villages, Fulkatari and Koinbari under Mahamaya forest range, host an open weekly market where hand-sawn timber is openly sold.

Transaction in two days totalled nearly Rs 7 lakh.

Sources said a section of the forest officials are allegedly hand-in-glove with these smugglers and, therefore, instead of stopping the trade, they actively help them carry on their business.

The sources said smugglers of Alamganj with their easy access to black money earned from the illegal timber trade are well tooled. They are fully geared to counter any operation launched against them. The government has only itself to blame for having let the law of the jungle take over in the forests of Dhubri, the sources added.

However, Dhubri divisional forest officer A.S. Laskar claimed that forest cover in the district had increased after the ban imposed by the Supreme Court on felling and transportation of logs on December 18, 1996.

?Earlier, there were 18 saw mills under the Dhubri forest division, but now, the Supreme Court has allowed only four to remain open. This has certainly helped save the forest cover of the division,? Laskar said.

He said the Dhubri forest division has earned more than Rs 1 crore in revenue from forests and the figure is likely to go up with the inclusion of the forest area on the south bank of the Goalpara forest division.

While admitting that he was aware of the illegal timber trade in the two villages, Laskar said the forest department would soon launch an operation against it.