Keonjhar: Officials of Keonjhar forest department Wednesday seized huge quantities of timber worth several crores of rupees during a raid at a slum in Santarapur village under Ghatagaon block in this district. Five persons have been arrested in this connection, officials said. They added that 15 truckloads of timber of various types were seized during the raid.
The officials also confiscated large numbers of cutting equipment. The raid which started Wednesday morning continued till late into the evening. During the raid timber of various varieties like sal, piasal, acasia and teak were seized.
Further investigations are underway to determine the value and volume of the seized timber. More arrests are on the cards, DFO Dhanraj HD said. Forest department has not revealed the identity of the accused persons as it may affect the investigation, officials said. The raid was led by Dhanraj along with SP Nitin Kushalkar, SDPO Ghatagaon, Pravat Kumar Tripathy, Ghatagaon tehsildar Bhabani Pradhan and Ghatagaon Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Pravat Kuanr among others. Ten platoons of police were deployed at the scene to avoid any law and order situation. Moreover, the boundaries of the village were also barricaded during the raid, sources said.
Forest officials meanwhile said that after interrogation of the five arrested, simultaneous raids may be conducted at some other places. The recovery of such huge quantities of timber has come as a huge shock to them. Environmentalists have questioned how Forest Department personnel remained oblivious to the entire development. They pointed out that such huge quantities of timber wouldn’t have been possible without large-scale felling of trees. They asked where the Forest department staff was when trees were being felled. They urged for proper and impartial investigation and stringent measures against those involved in the felling of trees and timber smuggling.
Sources said that Santarapur village is the hub of the timber mafia. They informed that in the past also Forest department personnel had raided various places in the village and seized large quantities of timber. However, despite the raids, smuggling of timber continues unabated. Environmentalists pointed out that unless the Forest department prevents the felling of trees people in the district will suffer terribly in the days to come as the ecological balance will be affected.