Has forest department failed to check illegal tree felling?

GUWAHATI: Today is World Environment Day and next month Van Mahotsav, the annual one-week tree-planting festival in India, will be celebrated. On these occasions, emphasis is laid on planting trees and protecting the environment. It is the responsibility of the Forest Department to protect the forests and manage the forest resources. But is the department fulfilling its responsibility?

Almost every other day, we come across news reports of vehicles transporting illegal timber being seized by forest department officials. While such seizures are touted as achievements of the forest department, the question is why was the department unable to stop the trees from being felled in the first place. Unfortunately, the felling of trees, including mature and valuable trees, continues unabated in forest areas of the State under the nose of the forest officials. This is due to the alleged lackadaisical attitude of a section of Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) and Rangers.

The government has set up beat offices even in interior forest areas. Yet, why are forest department personnel not aware of the illegal activities of the timber mafia? Why are they not able to prevent trees from being cut down? Maybe there is a nexus between the timber smugglers and a section of forest department personnel.

The DFOs are the custodians of the forests. They have a crucial role to play in the protection and management of forests. They are expected to visit and inspect the forest areas regularly. But they seldom do so. Most DFOs allegedly sit in their offices and issue orders to their subordinates. This explains why the forest department has proved to be a failure in preventing trees from being cut mercilessly.

The government, to create awareness among people about the importance of protecting the environment, keeps rolling out schemes and projects. Every year during Van Mahotsav and on World Environment Day, saplings are planted with much enthusiasm and fanfare. But are these saplings looked after well later? In 2015, the then Deputy Commissioner planted record saplings on both sides of the Moran-Naharkatia road. This event had grabbed a lot of attention and people had heaped praise on the Deputy Commissioner for taking up this green initiative. Ironically, these trees are now being cut to widen the Moran-Naharkatia road. Around 2,553 trees will be cut for this road-widening project. So what purpose did the initiative of planting saplings on both sides of this road? Funds were spent to plant those saplings and now more funds are being spent to cut down those trees!

According to a Government of India report of 2021, Assam has lost 15 sq km of forest area. A retired forest officer said that at present, there are 110 DFOs in the State Forest Department. Among them, 33% are Assam Forest Service (AFS) officers while 66% are Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers. There are 380 Rangers while 56 IFS officers hold high-level posts in the department.

He further said, “The forest department has failed to prevent the illegal felling of trees. The DFOs and Rangers do not visit the interior forest areas so they are not aware of the felling activities of the timber smugglers. Also, forest personnel patrolling the forest areas have to face many challenges and hardships. They are not equipped with sophisticated arms and ammunition. They have to put their lives at risk while patrolling the forest areas. Recently in Goalpara, a forest personnel lost his life after he was attacked by timber smugglers. Forest personnel often do not want to take such risks by confronting timber smugglers.”

He added, “Kamrup, Boko, Goalpara and South Salmara are areas with heavy forest cover. Here, forest personnel have to deal with two main challenges. These areas being close to the Meghalaya border, timber smugglers transport the illegal timber to Meghalaya and from there the timber makes its way to Assam. Earlier, there was a check gate of the forest department at Khanapara in Guwahati. But for the last two years, this check gate has been removed.

“The trees illegally felled in these areas are also smuggled to the sar areas where there are many band sawmills. The illegal timber then makes its way to Bangladesh through the river routes. Patrolling must be intensified to check the felling of trees and smuggling of timber and modern, sophisticated arms must be given to forest personnel.”

To tackle climate change, there is a need to generate awareness and initiate action for the protection of the environment. At the same time, the government must take pragmatic steps to upgrade the forest department.

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