Silchar: Nature lovers and local residents of Hawaithang in Assam’s Cachar district have demanded a crackdown on the alleged felling of valuable plants and trees by timber smugglers in the Bishnupur forest area under the Hawaithang forest range.
Hawaithang falls under the Dholai assembly constituency near the Assam-Mizoram interstate border, about 46km from Silchar town.
According to locals of Hawaithang and nature lovers, valuable plants and trees are felled and taken by timber smugglers from the Bishnupur forest area regularly.
A section of the Bishnupur forest beat office has a nexus with the racket running the clandestine business and turns a blind eye to the illegal activities in exchange for money, they alleged.
They also alleged that smugglers use electric cutters to take down the trees, especially teak trees, after which they are loaded into vehicles and smuggled to different places.
They alleged that they had seen the chopped parts of Teak trees in the forest area on Saturday, following which they informed staff of the Bishnupur forest beat office M. Sahu, but Sahu did not pay much heed.
Thereafter, they brought the matter to the attention of district forest officer Tejas Mariswamy after which Sahu rushed to the spot (where the local residents had seen the chopped tree parts), but instead of finding the real culprits, Sahu beat up a differently-abled man and framed him falsely in connection with the felling of Teak trees, local residents alleged.
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The local people claimed Sahu definitely had links with the timber smugglers and claimed the forest would be ravaged if Sahu was not transferred from Bishnupur. Similar corruption allegations were labelled against Sahu when he was posted in Sonai (Cachar district), the local people claimed and demanded Sahu’s transfer.
Sahu, however, dismissed the allegations against him and claimed that a large section of local people is involved in the felling and smuggling of valuable trees from Bishnupur.
Dholai BJP MLA and minister Parimal Suklabaidya, the only minister from Barak Valley, told EastMojo that he would speak to the authorities and take necessary action to stop the alleged felling and smuggling of trees from the forest area.
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