"Are departments at all serious about protecting forests?" inquired forest officials

Guwahati: Portable sawing machines are causing a big headache to the state Forest Department as these are being used to indiscriminately cut down trees and saw them up in the forests themselves. Forest department officials often seize such machines, but this step has not borne fruit.

Forest officials have been asking the government to stop the manufacture of parts used in the assembly of portable sawing machines, but to no avail. A retired forest official said that during his tenure in the department, he had seized around 500 such machines within a period of two years. The use of portable sawing machines started in 2014–15, after the Forest Department issued licenses to these for ‘sizing’ timber. They were meant for use in timber depots to size the timber to customers’ desired measurements. But the machines are now widely used by illegal tree fellers and smugglers, the official added. Manufacturers of portable sawing machines are present in Tinsukia and Nagaon. The former official had, at that time, written to the government to stop the manufacture of such machines as they would pose a great threat to forests in the state. But his warning was not heeded.

Sources said that forest cover in the state has decreased in 2021 by 15 square kilometres as compared to that of 2019. There are several reasons for the decrease in forest cover, like illegal tree felling, encroachments, tree felling for infrastructure development by the government, and lastly, climate change. According to a report in 2021, the area of reserved forests in Assam was 12,92,964 hectares, and the area under encroachment was 3,40,747 hectares. Around 2 lakh households were reported to have encroached on forest land.

The sources further said that the level of protection that should have been provided was missing. There are insufficient numbers of forest camps to protect the forests. In some forests, camps are located at a distance of around 10 km from each other. As a result, the forest officials engaged in the area are sometimes unaware, even if people are using the portable sawing machines to cut down trees. Even when they are aware, due to the distance they have to cover, usually the illegal tree fellers make good on their escape by the time the forest officials reach the site. Nowadays, such portable sawing machines are also set up in sar areas. Trees are illegally felled and transported through the river to these sars, where they are cut up. Trees cut from forests in Goalpara and Kamrup are usually transported in this manner.

Earlier, there used to be forest department check-gates in different places in the state, where the documents of vehicles carrying timber were checked. But about two years ago, these forest department check gates were removed.

There is also a norm that twice the number of trees felled for infrastructure should be planted after they are cut down. In the last few years, lakhs of trees in Assam were cut down in the name of widening national highways, and this trend continues today. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) provides funds to the state PWD for the planting and maintenance of trees cut down for road development work. PWD continued to plant and maintain the trees for some time, but later, the department gave the job to private parties, and there is no accountability by the private firms employed for this purpose.

According to sources, the government has been giving thrust to tree plantations for a few years ago. The present state government planted one crore tree saplings last year. Even the survival of 50% of the trees planted is considered a super success by the forest department. Generally, it is seen that only about 20% of the trees thus planted survive. Due to such plantation drives, the tree cover in the state has increased by 222 square km in 2021, compared to that of 2019. However, an increase in tree cover does not mean an increase in the forest cover, as the forest cover has only reduced in the period mentioned.

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