Illegal felling of trees rampant in Nurpur; 3 FIRs in 2 months

Tree felling has been rampant in Rey Forest Range, which falls on the interstate border under Nurpur forest division, with as many as 40 khair trees having been axed in its Dhameta and Sathana forest beats in the past two months.

The Forest Department had lodged two FIRs under Sections 26, 32 and 33 of the Indian Forest Act (IFA) and Section 303 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) last month with the Fatehpur police station.

In its latest activity, the forest mafia on Friday targeted another forest in Dhameta forest beat and axed seven khair trees at night. The mafia converted the felled khair trees into logs. On getting information, the field staff of the Forest Department rushed to the spot and reportedly seized some khair wood logs even as the mafia had decamped with most of the logs at night.

Meanwhile, the Forest Department team impounded a white Tavera car without number plate that was loaded with 11 khair tree logs around 3 am on Saturday.

The vehicle was intercepted on the Mangarh-Polian link road at 2.30 am during patrolling by field personnel of the department. The team chased the vehicle and impounded it. However, three car occupants and three bikers accompanying the stolen forest wealth managed to flee towards Punjab under the cover of darkness leaving the khair logs loaded in the vehicle on the spot.

As per prima facie information shared by Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Nurpur, Amit Sharma, the khair tree felling mafia was active in the interstate border area in Nurpur and suspected to be involved in all previous cases of forest felling in Rey Forest Range.

He said the accused had chopped three more khair trees in Junat forest last night and after converting them into 11 logs, they were going to smuggle the same in Punjab but the vehicle was intercepted by the department’s patrolling team. He said in this case, a challan was being submitted in the civil court on Saturday as well as in the court of the DFO-cum-Authorised Officer.

The DFO told The Tribune that after conducting preliminary investigation into the felling of seven khair trees in Dhameta forest beat on the intervening night of March 6 and 7, he had suspended the forest guard deployed in the beat for dereliction of official duty. He said the range officer had also registered an FIR with Fatehpur police station on Friday evening under various sections of the IFA and BNS.

MR Sharma, a noted environmentalist of Kangra district and president of NGO ‘People for Environment’, has expressed concern over the repeated illegal forest felling under Nurpur forest division during the past two months and demanded a high-level inquiry into the alleged role of field personnel of the Forest Department in the menace.