Field day for timber smugglers

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Field day for timber smugglers

 

By Prabal Kr Das

GUWAHATI, Aug 16 – The Manas National Park stands to lose a

precious part of its forest unless better infrastructure and

manpower are provided to stop timber smugglers. Entering the park

through several points, groups of organised gangs are felling trees

at vulnerable places and ferrying them out to nearby trading posts.

People from places adjoining the park have raided the forests in

search of trees such as bonsum, khokan, sida and titasopa, which

fetch good prices in the adjoining districts. In some places in

Barpeta district, unauthorized sawmills have cropped up solely to

process illegal timber from the park.

 

Nobody in the Forest Department would be able to quantify the size

of the forest wealth that is being lost, which could be interpreted

as none being aware of the magnitude of the problem. But, the loss

has implications for the fauna of the park as well as for its soil

and biotic conditions.

 

Significantly, the park had lost considerable forest tracts during a

period of violence where presence of forest personnel was almost

nil. Within a short span of time, timber smugglers destroyed a large

number of valuable gameri khair, simul and sishu trees.

 

Well-placed sources told The Assam Tribune that although illegal

felling has come down, it continues in parts of the park's buffer

zone. The banks of the Beki river and the eastern side of the

Panbari Range have been particularly vulnerable in recent times.

 

Another worry for the park's managers have been credible reports

that Indian nationals entering Bhutan were responsible for illegal

felling of trees inside the Royal Manas National Park. The Bhutanese

authorities have even written to their Indian counterparts referring

to the problem.

 

" One of the major reasons for the failure to alter the present

situation is that the park authorities have no jurisdiction over

nearby areas where the timber is processed. A hot pursuit of

miscreants beyond the park boundaries is simply not possible, " said

a senior forest official.

 

He said that if the illegal trade is to be stopped then a new

mechanism would have to be introduced, where the park personnel

could patrol and intervene in neighbouring regions.

 

Forest personnel working in the park acknowledge better patrolling

could have halted poachers and timber smugglers, but that would only

have been possible through an increase in the staff strength. At the

field level Manas National Park suffers from a shortage of about 129

personnel.

 

More camps and vehicles are the other necessities of the park, which

contains a large expanse of inhospitable terrain. However, unlike

some other national parks of India, Manas seems to have had a dearth

of donors and funding agencies. " It is a surprise considering the

fact that Manas enjoys several conservation status like Project

Tiger, Biosphere Reserve, Important Bird Area, and Elephant

Reserve, " said an official of the park.