Three timber thieves had been caught red handed by the forest division officers in Tinsukia district of Assam, on Thursday for illegally chopping Hollong tree in the Doomdooma reserve forest.
The accused, Arun Tasa, Markus Munda and Biru Bhukta of Rangpur village of Tinsukia’s Kakopathar were handed to police. Kakopathar forest division ranger Praneswar Das said that the accused had chopped down two giant Hollong trees from the reserve for illegal purpose. Hollong is a sacred tree for the Moran community of Assam. The accused used to sell the chopped timbers as firewood to the illegal country breweries.
“Our forest team carry out regular patrolling inside the Doomdooma forest. Around 5.20 am on Thursday, they caught three timber thieves red-handed while they were chopping down Hollong trees inside the
reserve forest. They had already felled two giant trees. During interrogation, they admitted that they used to cut the logs into small firewood and then sell them to the illegally-run country breweries in the area.
They used to earn around Rs 250 to Rs 300 per bundle of firewood by selling them to the breweries. We have seized two bicycles, axes, saws and machetes from them,” the ranger said. Sources said that there have been many account of deforestation which are reported inside the Kakopathar reserve forest.
“The forest department should proactively work to curb the wildlife crime. The timber mafias have engaged many people into the business and in an organized way they are running the whole nexus with some corrupt officials from the forest department,” said a source. Devojit Moran, an environmentalist said that timber smuggling happens on a regular basis for chopping precious timber contained in the reserve forest of Assam. He added that forest officers are concerned about the matter.
