Maksam Tayeng

PASIGHAT, Nov 20: Illegal timber felling from Reserve Forests has become a chronic challenge for the Department of Forest today, and in one such incident which came to light recently, hundreds of high value Hollock (Terminalia myriocarpa) trees were felled from Loki area under Pasighat Reserve Forest.

 “The trees must have been cut down during the monsoon taking advantage of the flood-like situation in the riverine island. We came across 100 stumps within Loki area, more such illegal felling must have been done in other areas of the RF,” said Tasang Taga, ADCF, i/c Central Mobile Squad under Chief Conservator of Forest, Central Arunachal circle, Pasighat. He was accompanied by Range Officer, Ojing Jamoh, Beat officer, Moralali, T Mize and others.

Officials made the discovery on Friday.

According to the official, the timber mafias have picked only Hollock trees which have huge demand in the market.  The perpetrators have used power chain saw and push cart with motor bike wheels to cut down and transport the logs to the river and transported it to their destination through raft over the Siang River.

It is worth mentioning here that, Loki and 21 Mile areas along British road have good number of Hollock tree plantations making it a target of timber smugglers/mafias. Similar incidents were reported from the Mebo RF recently.

When contacted, Range Officer, Pasighat Range, Jumgo Geyi said that he and his team are trying hard to stop the illegal trade. He also cited regarding the arrests made in 2015 on the island/Partung area.

Geyi, a sincere and dedicated officer however seems dejected as offenders get easy bail and repeat the same illegalities while openly challenging forest staffers.

The official has also engaged a local youth paying from his own means since the past one year to keep vigil over tree felling incidents.

Candidly speaking about the challenges, Geyi disclosed that 90% of the staffers under Pasighat Forest Division are women who are engaged in forest check gates, nursery or office works, leaving only few staffers on the field.

‘Arunachal Pradesh is still dependent on the forest laws of Assam etc, and doesn’t have its own Forest Act,’ he said adding that it is a huge deterrent in tacking illegal timber activities.

Another experienced officer, Obang Tayeng, RO Mebo agrees that due to lack of men and machineries the well equipped timber mafias have the upper edge.

“At times we are not even in a position to bring the seized logs to the office for auctioning due to lack of vehicles. Even it takes time to process the SWR which need timely clearance from higher office to tackle such illegalities,” Tayeng adds.

Forest officials also want the easy availability of Power Chain Saw in the market to be regulated by the state government, holding them responsible for massive tree felling in the state today.

‘If these machines are put under license category, it will be easier to tackle the menace. The same applies to Air Guns as it is indiscriminately used to kill birds and squirrels,’ informed a forest officer.

The above reasons aside, sincere officers are a demoralised lot because of the lack of promotional scope and recognition as per the ground and real time performances.

‘Those who put extra effort beyond the call of duty, even taking the risk of hostility with timber mafias are left alone to fight in the court or in society, without recognition and extra benefits,’ said another officer.

Lok Sabha MP, Ninong Ering, who is also a member of Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment of Forests, Government of India said that he had briefed about such illegal operations in the Loki areas to DFO (T), Tabang Jamoh and Superintendent of Police, Pranav Tayal after being informed by workers on his plot of land in the vicinity about suspicious activity.

"No steps were taken to arrest and stop the illegalities on time during the monsoon, it is useless to make hue & cry at this hour when it’s too late," added Ering.

Raising strong concern about the prevailing illegalities, he has appealed the authorities concern to act on time to the save forests

---

Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

<< Back to News List