TURA: Gangs of men associated with timber smuggling brazenly entered a large compound belonging to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council in broad daylight at Chibinang region of Phulbari and fell close to a dozen highly prized and matured trees on Tuesday morning.
The men targetted the council land where a number of matured sal and teak trees stood in Chibinang.
As word reached the council forest teams about the illegal felling taking place, they rushed to the site along with members of the Garo Students Union. Seeing the authorities and union members coming, the timber smugglers abandoned the scene leaving behind the timber which was later seized by the forest teams.
Illegal squatters residing in the nearby areas close to the GHADC land are said to have been behind the felling of the trees.
“As soon as we got information about felling of trees taking place in our compound we rushed to the site. Though we could not reach in time to stop the felling yet we did manage to confiscate all the felled timber,” inform GHADC forest officials.
Meanwhile, the GSU Chibinang unit has demanded that arrest of the culprits must be done to send a strong message to timber smugglers.
“ We want stringent action be taken and the guilty brought to book,” informed Amit Marak, the president of GSU – Chibinang unit.
The district council has filed a police FIR at Phulbari over the illegal incident.
