TURA: Call it a knee-jerk response, but after weeks of illegal timber effortlessly getting transported from the region into neighbouring Assam, the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council has finally reacted by undertaking ‘raids’ to dismantle the saw mills that had been operating in the Chibinang region of Phulbari.
The daylong raid by the council forest teams, with support from the district police, managed to succeed in dismantling just two illegal saw mills while several others, apparently tipped off, had already moved out before the ‘raiding’ parties could arrive.
Two saw mills were found located at Gandhimari and Tochongre and dismantled. A large quantity of timber, sawn or uncut, were found in the compound of these two illegal set ups. Unclaimed timber logs were also found strewn in some sections of the road indicating that the smugglers had left in haste after being alerted of the raid.
Several dozen illegal mills that had been operating all along the stretch from Dadenggre, Phulbari to Chibinang road had disappeared within hours of the news about the raid taking place leading to many to question the ‘leak’ into the operation.
The action by the GHADC comes after weeks of public outcry over the widespread smuggling of timber from the forests of Garo Hills and a threat of legal action by an environment organization from the area.