Plundering Kamrup woods…..Samudra Gupta Kashyap
The recovery of skeletal remains of a whistleblower proves a strong network of criminals, forest dwellers, officials and militants in Assam’s forests
The recovery of skeletal remains of a whistleblower proves a strong network of criminals, forest dwellers, officials and militants in Assam’s forests
The recovery of the skeletal remains of Arup Kalita, a whistleblower who had gone missing last year while trying to stop illegal removal of timber in Kamrup West forest division in
Assam, has not only established that timber mafia is in existence in the state, but also proved, yet again, that raising voice against it can silence a person forever.
While Arup Kalita, a local student leader was allegedly killed inside a forest office compound at Kukurmara in Kamrup district, two journalists had also fallen victims to such criminals after having exposed the nexus. Pabitra Narayan, a correspondent of Northeast Times, was killed after having written about a timber gang in Sonari in Sivasagar district in 1995. Eleven years later, Prahlad Goala, correspondent of Asomiya Khabar, was killed in Golaghat district for writing stories about illegal timber felling.
Several reserved forests, particularly in western Assam, have also suffered because militants plundered them, said a senior government officer, who obviously did not want to be named.
Illegal felling of trees and removal of other forest produce, including sand and stones, have been major issues in Assam for years. The state has lost almost half of its green cover due to illegal timber trade, which allegedly has a strong network of criminals, forest dwellers, a section of government officials and militant groups.
Though the felling of trees was banned by the Supreme Court way back in 1996, trees continue to be illegally felled and removed from the states reserved forests. That huge quantities of illegally felled trees have been seized by the authorities is enough to prove this. Heaps of logs are a common sight in any depot of the forest department. In 2008, for instance, the department had seized over 30,000 cubic metre of timber.
What we see as seized timber is just one part of what must be actually illegally felled and smuggled out, says former chief conservator of forests M C Malakar. The Kamrup West forest division used to be one of the richest saal forests in the country till 10 years ago. Today, it has almost disappeared due to illegal felling, Malakar said.
It is an open secret that there is a connivance among foresters, police and criminal gangs in looting the states rich forests, points out N N Changkakoti, a former DGP.
Interestingly, heaps of FIRs were lodged against illegal felling of trees in Kamrup West forest division between 1999 and 2002, but no action was taken, indicating inaction or connivance on the part of the police.
The plundering of the forests in Kamrup district has been mentioned in the CAG report of 2009. It said that in two years, 2006-07 and 2007-08, 423.469 cubic metre of timber was illegally felled in the districts forests, of which the department could recover only 249.795 cubic metre. The CAG found that 2,162.15 cubic metre of timber was felled in Kamrup, Nagaon and Doomdooma divisions during 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Kalita and other members of the All Assam Non-Tribal Students Union were trying to raise the issue of illegal felling and smuggling of timber and sand. Instead of taking action against the criminals, some officials joined hands with them to eliminate Kalita, alleged Pradip Saloi, president of the union.
Last year, an inquiry conducted by the Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup district had recorded statements of forest department employees who described how several truck-loads of timber pass through check-gates. The modus operandi is simple: The department issues a transit permit (TP) for removal of say 10 truck-loads of timber legally sold after being seized. The TP is officially recorded at check-gates. But in reality, several trucks are allowed to pass after payment of money to those manning those gates.