Sandalwood trees on govt land in Rakkar forest axed

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, February 2

Several cases of illegal felling of sandalwood trees have been reported from government land in the Rakkar area of Dehra Gopipur subdivision of Kangra district.

Five days ago, over one dozen sandalwood trees were axed from a forest land near Rakkar. When the incident came to the notice of local residents, they reported the matter to the Forest Department. Forest officials reached the spot and found a number of half cut trees.

Probe withdrawal raises eyebrows

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• The withdrawal of investigation from the police by the Forest Department has raised eyebrows on the functioning of the department. The villagers, who reported the matter to the police, demanded that police should investigate the matter so that other members of the gang were also arrested.

Later, the Forest Department reported the matter to Rakkar police. Police swung into action and arrested a local smuggler and recovered 150 kg of sandalwood from his possession. Later, the Forest Department told the police that they would themselves investigate the case and requested for the withdrawal of the application filed earlier. Police, in response to the request of Range Officer, handed over the 150 kg of sandalwood recovered from the smuggler. The Forest Department later issued a damage report against the culprit.

Sandalwood has high export value, leading to illegal trade in the international market. As a prohibited item for export, sandalwood is included in the list of the “Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora”. In such cases, investigation is carried out by the police.

The withdrawal of the investigation from the police has raised eyebrows on the functioning of the Forest Department. The villagers demanded that police should investigate the matter so that other members of the gang were also arrested. They said under the HP State Forest Act, police was competent to investigate such cases.

Sunny Divisional Forest Officer, Dehra, could not be contacted for comments despite repeated calls.

However, till the filing of this news item, the Forest Department has not registered any FIR at the police station, Rakkar. Rakkar SHO Gurdev Singh said since the Forest Department had taken back investigation from police, no FIR was registered. He said the sandalwood recovered by the police had been handed over to the Forest Department and police had no jurisdiction in the matter.