TURA: A legislator from the plains belt region of West Garo Hills has been accused of allowing the auctioning of illegally felled trees.
The Phulbari MLA, SG Esmatur Mominin alias Rahibul has found himself in a spot after an order allegedly written in his hand and letter pad allowing for auction of trees which were standing on government property was circulated.
The matter came to light after some concerned residents of the area posted information of the felling as well as the alleged order of the MLA, which according to forest officials as well as Forest Development Corporation of Meghalaya (FDCM) was completely illegal. Incidentally the MLA is also the chairman of the Forest Department.
According to the order which did not specify a date, the MLA has ordered the Ranger of FDCM in the area to allot 500 CFT of timber available to one Shah Jahan Islam Sarkar. The order was given to the Ranger of Chanuparam about 4 days ago.
According to forest sources, the order itself is wrong to begin with as the ranger cannot be given an order by the Chairman for allotment or auction. The order for allotment or auction needs to come from the FDCM itself with the chairman not being directly involved in any manner.
While there are many questions raised on how the order was given, the situation got even murkier after it was found out that there were no seized timbers in the depot of Chanupara near Chibinang in West Garo Hills district.
“Seeing that there was no seized timber, they immediately began to cut trees present in the property of the FDCM, all of which were teak or sal. I was unaware of what was happening as the order copy was not given to me as I was in Tura to look after a sick member of my family,” said the FDCM ranger from Chanupara
Upon knowing of the felling of trees, NGO members of the area visited the spot and asked for the immediate stop to the illegal tree felling to which the allotees refused to listen. It was only after the intervention of the police that the felling was stopped.
“At last count they have already felled 8 teak trees at least. When we tried to stop they showed power of the local MLA and continued doing what they wanted to,” said one of the FDCM officials from the range.
FDCM is the corporation allowed to auction seized timbers in the entire state of Meghalaya. Auctions are done through advertisements released by the FDCM and after due process. However in the instant case, nothing has been followed.
A forest official on the condition of anonymity provided more details of the increasing cases of timber smuggling and illegal saw mills in the Chibinang area.
“It is really frustrating. Even when we seize illegal mills and timber, they show muscle power and even threaten to beat up officials. Two days after their machines are seized they restart operations. What can we stop,” asked a frustrated forest official.
Upon being contacted on the matter, a top official of the FDCM in Shillong stated that the office had no idea that such an order was even given putting the entire order in question.
“How did he give the order in the first place? Is he the chairman of forests to destroy forests or to protect it? This is not only illegal but also a dangerous precedent,” said an NGO member from Phulbari.
Meanwhile the territorial forest department ha stated that an investigation into the matter will take place, beginning tomorrow.
The MLA however tried to play down the issue blaming it on a misunderstanding.
“They misconstrued the order and cut down trees instead. It has been stopped after the matter was informed to me,” claimed Mominin on the matter.