Illegal felling of khair trees on rise in Yamunanagar

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, February 14

Incidents of illegal felling of khair trees are on the rise in Yamunanagar district. As many as 24 khair trees were found axed illegally in the district in the past 20 days and two FIRs were registered against eight persons in this regard.

According to information, 14 khair trees were axed from the bank of Hydel Channel in Bhul Kheri village of the district on February 2, 2019.

On the complaint of Rampal Singh, Forest Range Officer, Jagadhri, a case was registered against five persons, Islam of Chuharpur village, Raju of Shahjadwala, Dawood of Jattanwala, Ilmu of Chikkan and Navab of Bhagwan Pur village at the Chhachhrauli police station on February 12.

The complainant said they got information that the khair trees were being felled from the bank of Hydel Channel in Bhul Kheri village.When they reached the spot at 4 am on February 2, they found that five persons were loading the logs of khair in a utility vehicle there.

He said those persons managed to flee with their vehicle on seeing them. On counting the axed trees, it was found that 14 khair trees had been axed by them. Earlier, 10 khair trees were found axed from the forest area near Malikpur Bangar village on January 25.

On the complaint of Ved Vyas, Block Forest Officer, a case was registered against three persons — Mehanda, Islam and Jangu of Nagli village — at the Bilaspur police station on January 29.

Sources said the forest mafia sold khair tree stems to factories where it was used to prepare “katha” which was used as an ingredient in “paan” and was also used in many ayurvedic medicines.

Sources further said the high commercial value of “katha” led to illegal felling of khair trees. The khair wood price was stated to be more than Rs 5,000 per quintal in the market and most of the khair wood from Yamunanagar district was supplied to katha factories in Delhi.

Stems used to prepare ‘katha’

Sources said the forest mafia sold khair tree stems to factories where it was used to prepare “katha”, which was used as an ingredient in “paan” and was also used in many ayurvedic medicines.Sources further said the high commercial value of “katha” led to illegal felling of khair trees.The khair wood price was stated to be more than Rs 5,000 per quintal in the market and most of the khair wood from Yamunanagar district was supplied to katha factories in New Delhi.