Forest personnel from Sadiya subdivision seized Khair logs worth Rs 4 lakh

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TINSUKIA: A team of forest personnel from Sadiya subdivision led by ranger Khirod Saikia recovered illegal Khair (Acacia catechu) logs worth over Rs 4 lakh from Ambikapur near Assam-Arunachal border on Wednesday night.

According to Forest department sources, the logs were stacked at a desolate place at Simulguri in Ambikapur. The department brought the logs to its range office at Chapakhowa.

Timber mafia allegedly felled the highly priced Khair logs in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh and has been planning to transport to other parts of the country where these are of high demand, said a source. Though Khair trees were abundant in Sadiya and nearby areas, illegal felling has led to their total disappearance.

Khair is used as a source of katha and cutch. This extraction from the heartwood has been classified as super group timber having great medicinal value. There is a very large internal demand for it for masticatory use in pan preparations and in medicine. Katha is regarded as astringent, cooling and digestive and is useful in sore throat, cough and diarrhoea, besides applying externally as an astringent and as cooling application to ulcers, boils and eruptions on the skin. It is an indispensable ingredient of pan preparations.