All Bodo Students’ Union slams forest personnel for nexus with timber smugglers

KOKRAJHAR: A day after the killing incident in Jharbari forest, the president of the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), Dipen Boro on Monday slammed the officials of the forest department who allegedly have a nexus with the timber smugglers. He said the killing of a person of Gianipur of Jharbari by forest officials in the wee hours of Sunday was a result of a monetary dispute between the smugglers and some forest officials.

Talking to media persons, ABSU president Boro said the student body never wanted the loss of life in the region and killing of Hemanta Narzary of Gianipur village in an ‘encounter’ by forest staff was strongly condemnable. He said the ABSU had collected the ground reports from the local people and from various quarters. He said Hemanta was one of the persons who were ferrying timber logs on their bicycles from Jharbari forest and he was eight in the row.

“The two forest staff from Jharbari Range Office caught only Hemanta Narzary between 2.30 am to 3 am, who was in the middle of 16 bicycles, but other smugglers on the front and in the rear were neither asked or caught,” he said, adding that according to sources, there was a brief quarrel between two forest staff and Hemanta over money matters and later, he was shot from point blank range on the head and he died on the spot. He also said that according to the villagers, Hemanta was shot by two forest staff of the Jharbari range office. He also said that both the forest personnel chased the smugglers not to prevent them from carrying timber logs but for money. He demanded that both the forest personnel should be arrested at the earliest and brought to book.

Boro further said the involvement of forest officials in the trade of illegal timber logs with smugglers has been exposed from this incident as forest staff had not prevented the smugglers entering the jungle because they were getting money from the smugglers. He alleged that there was a Range Office at Jharbari just 1 km in the west and a forest camp in a distance of 1.5 km in the east from the incident spot and it was clear that smugglers could ferry timber logs on bicycles from the jungle daily without any resistance from the forest staff..

Boro said that there had been constant reports of poaching one-horned rhinos and tigers in Manas National Park, which was a matter of grave concern. “Poaching in Kaziranga National Park has been stopped now. If it is possible in Kaziranga then why not in Manas National Park?” he said. He also said that hundreds of poachers had surrendered with their hand-made arms and other hunting materials in the periphery of Manas National Park and Raimana National Park last year and the BTC government provided them Rs 50,000 per poacher for their alternative livelihood but the reports of poaching cases in the national parks indicated the presence of active poachers. He called upon all to come forward for the protection and preservation of forests and their resources in Bodoland.

Meanwhile, local people of Jharbari told media persons that the transportation of timber logs from the reserve forest was going on under the nose of the forest staff. On the other hand, an assistant teacher of Jharbari High School, while talking to The Sentinel on condition of anonymity, said that the forest department had engaged hundreds of youths to look after the protection of forests and they were attached in various forest range offices, beat offices, wildlife sanctuaries and even in national parks by the previous council government. He said the initiative of engaging the youths as NGO activists to protect the forest resources was praiseworthy but there was no concrete mechanism on how to manage their logistic support and how to pay them honorarium. He said many NGO activists attached to forest offices in the reserve forests had been working for over a decade without any salary or monthly stipend and as a result, they now turn a blind eye to the illegal activities going on. He said that they should not be expected to protect the forests and the forest resources unless they are paid monthly salaries.

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