Garo Hills residents decide to fight back against illegal logging

TURA: The continuous illegal felling of trees inside reserve forests of Garo Hills and its transportation towards neighbouring Assam has become a major concern for social and environmental organizations particularly more so because most of these crimes are taking place in the government reserve forests of Rongrenggre (Williamnagar), Songsak and Rongjeng in East Garo Hills district.
In the light of this environmental degradation taking place despite attempts by the forest department to curb it, residents of Rongjeng town were encouraged by NGOs to stand up for protection of the precious forests.
An awareness programme for the public was held at Rongjeng, home to a large area of reserve forests, to tackle this menace and create awareness on the rising climatic conditions due to loss of forests cover.
Local NGOs and pressure groups including the GSU, FKJGP, AAYF took part in the programme in which Range Forest Officer of Simsanggre, Chisaka Ch Marak, raised an alarm that Garo Hills is facing one of its most challenging times due to illegal felling of trees.
“We should not think that the reserve forests are the property of the state. It is our property and we will be poorer if the forest reserves are depleted,” warned the forest officer.
“Garo Hills is losing its greens in a big way and unless we fight back against the dual menace of illegal timber smuggling and wanton destruction of forests, we cannot complain of climate change. We have to fight back,” urged a local resident Theju Marak to the gathering.
“Our problem is that we traditionally use forest products but there are limits to its natural use. We are cutting more than we need and selling the same to a different state. This is grossly unfair and we have to stand together to change this mentality”, he added.
Speaking on global climate changes with specifics on Garo Hills, CEPARD President Samgar Sangma said, “Our rivers are drying up and if we continue the trend as it is now, there will be nothing left to drink.”
Participating in the daylong programme which was held inside the Reserve Forest itself, old timers reminisced over the change they have witnessed over the years in Garo Hills.
“Travelling through Wageasi towards Rongjeng just a few years back had to be cautious and slow as there was always a possibility of coming across wild herds of elephants passing through the lush green forests. I don’t know anyone in the current generation who can say they have seen elephants with their own eyes other than on television. We are not sure the next generation will even see trees,” said a resident of the town.
“We used to face the same problem in the village of Jambal where illegal timber smugglers were causing havoc. We all got together and decided that we would catch hold of them and submit to the authorities but would not allow them to continue pillaging the village. The move paid off and we are now able to save our trees. The same needs to be done everywhere so that the threat can be overcome,” said Auline D Sangma, Principal of Jambal UP School.
The participants later undertook a tree plantation program in the reserve area.