Illegally felled trees seized on farm near Chimur

Vijay Pinjarkar | TNN | Apr 14, 2020, 04:28 IST

Nagpur: In one of the biggest hauls in Chandrapur district, Chimur range forest officials on Monday allegedly seized thousands of illicitly felled trees, with volume estimated to be 30-35 cubic metre. At a market rate of Rs50,000 per cubic metre, the cost of the felled trees must be over Rs15 lakh.
A video has gone viral on social media showing huge timber logs abandoned in a field on Bhisi-Jamgaon Road, 75km from Nagpur. Apart from small trees, the timber also includes good quality teak, which is normally found in high quality forest areas.
“Officials need to probe whether felling has been done in forest areas under the garb of tree felling on private land. The teak mafia must have taken advantage of the lockdown and felled trees illegally in the forest,” said sources.
However, Chimur RFO Bhavik Chiwande said, “The issue has been blown out of proportion. The entire timber is around 10 cubic metre and its cost may be around Rs5 lakh. ”
“The trees have been felled illegally. No farmer or contractor has staked claim on the material. We’ve registered an offence against unknown culprits. All the timber will be shifted to the forest depot at Khadsangi and auctioned,” the RFO added.
Chandrapur chief conservator of forests (CCF) SV Ramarao said, “It is a case of tree felling on private lands without seeking permission under The Maharashtra Felling of Trees Regulation Act 1964. The RFO concerned is taking necessary action.”
However, forest officials are trying to under-report the timber. “Heaps of trees at the site looked nothing less than a timber depot. Looking at the material, it is somewhere between 30-35 cubic metres,” said senior officials of the Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM).
FDCM officials had received an anonymous call on April 12 night informing RFO Ramesh Balaya that at least 12 tractor loads of huge timber logs have been dumped on an agriculture field. The FDCM staff reached the spot but found no one, and informed Chimur range officials. Earlier, there have been cases of contractors resorting to tree felling on forest areas under the garb of felling on private lands.
RFO Chiwande ruled out felling in forest areas. He said that due to lockdown farmers in distress must have sold the timber on their land to contractors as they pay on the spot by valuing the trees. The timber must have been procured from several farmers and dumped in the field with an intention to transport it from one place.