TURA: Gangs of men associated with timber smuggling brazenly entered a large compound belonging to the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) at Chibinang region of Phulbari in broad daylight and fell nearly a dozen highly-prized and matured trees on Tuesday morning.
The men targeted the council land where a number of matured sal and teak trees stood. As word about the illegal felling taking place reached the council forest teams, they rushed to the site along with members of the Garo Students’ Union (GSU). 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,” informed GHADC forest officials.
Meanwhile, the GSU Chibinang unit has demanded that the culprits must be arrested so as to send a strong message to timber smugglers.
“We want that stringent action be taken and the guilty be brought to book,” informed Amit Marak, president of GSU Chibinang unit.
Meanwhile, the district council has filed an FIR at Phulbari over the illegal incident.