The forest and revenue departments in Gudalur busted a forest tree smuggling ring involving two coffee estates in Bitherkad along the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border on Thursday.
Forest department officials, said that the District Forest Officer, Gudalur division, Sumesh Soman, had conducted an inspection of the Panjora and Ranjitha Estates in Bitherkad recently, and discovered that 19 trees belonging to two indigenous forest tree species – Albizia and Grewia tilifolia, had been cut down inside the two coffee estates.
“The forest and revenue department acted very quickly and seized seven trees which had been cut inside Ranjitha estate, within the estate itself, while the 12 other trees had already been smuggled across the border into Kerala,” said the DFO, Mr. Soman.
In order to seize the valuable timber, the forest, revenue and police worked together to find where the trees had been smuggled, studying CCTV footage of vehicles entering and exiting the Nilgiris, and finally getting a clue to the contraband’s whereabouts on Thursday.
The officials tracked the consignment to a lumber mill at Sultan Bathery in Wayanad on Thursday and have seized the trees, they confirmed.
Forest department officials said that the trees had been cut from inside a coffee estate established on lands designated as being under Section 17 of the Gudalur Janmam Abolition Act, which are essentially lands where claims of the settlers are yet to be settled, but are for all intents and purposes, are treated as forests.
Officials said that smuggling of trees into Kerala is extremely easy for settlers in these estates, as the Kerala Government does not require people transporting timber to produce any certification proving that the trees were not illegally felled inside Tamil Nadu.
“Moreover, under the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Private Forest Act of 1949, arrests can only be affected with the approval of a district committee, which gives the illegal tree fellers enough time to escape,” said an official.