Bhutan timber has flooded the Dooars following the heavy rains over Saturday and Sunday.

When most flood victims of Cooch Behar district are busy searching for safe shelters, a group of people from Karisal, Phansir Ghat, Harin Chaora and Ghughumari villages are risking their lives to collect logs that have been washed away by the Torsha river.

According to the forest department, a timber depot of the Bhutan government at Phuentsholing in Bhutan was washed away in the floods. As a result, more timber was washed away than in floods of earlier years.

With thousands of logs floating in the river, people in Cooch Behar villages near the Torsha are jumping into the swollen river to capture them.

"Due to hike in cooking gas prices, we cook in wood-fired ovens. Our family members are risking their lives to collect logs floating in the Torsha so that we can stock up on firewood," Beauty Bibi of Harin Chaora said on Tuesday.

Logs washed away by the Torsha river along the embankment in Harin Chaora near Cooch Behar town

Swapan Das of Ghughumari said: "I have been collecting tree trunks that have been washed away by floodwaters for the past 15-20 years at least, but there have never been so many tree trunks like now.”

Pravin Kaswan, the divisional forest officer of Jaldapara, said: “The logs are all pine trees swept away in the Torsha from a Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited timber depot in Phuentsholing, Bhutan.”

Bijan Kumar Nath, the additional divisional forest officer of Cooch Behar forest division, said the timber washed away by the flood was technically "ownerless".

“On behalf of the forest department, we are also looking into what kind of wood people have collected that had been floating in the river," the forester merely added.

Phansir Ghat and Karisal are located just 1km away from Cooch Behar town. Harin Chaora and Ghugumari are some 5km from the town.

Beauty Bibi said that her husband and brother-in-law had collected 15 logs so far.

Those with a good "catch" plan to sell surplus wood at a premium to neighbours, a resident of the Phansir Ghat area, who did not want to be named, said.

Most of the logs that float down the Torsha during floods are suitable as firewood. Valuable timber, including sal teak, also comes along at times.

“If you get valuable logs, you can make a lot of money selling them,” the person said. "The price depends on factors including tree species and the condition of the wood."

Residents tie a rope around the floating tree trunk and use the river's currents to slowly pull it to the shore.

Abdul Kader Haque, the deputy of the Cooch Behar-I panchayat samiti, said: “People from areas along the river bank, including adjacent to the Torsha river bridge, were seen risking their lives to collect floating logs. When the matter came to the attention of the administration and the police, villagers were warned not to risk their lives to collect the floating logs.”