Free run for timber mafia as Forest dept sleeps

CUTTACK: Negligence of forest officials has emboldened the timber mafia that continues to operate with impunity erasing the green cover of Satkosia wildlife sanctuary from Mardmekh to Kamaladiha in Narasinghpur block of Cuttack district. 

Around 42 villages of Kamaladiha, Jilinda, Regeda, Jodumu, Chakamunda and Sharadhapur gram panchayats are located within Satkosia wildlife sanctuary in the district. As per the villagers, the timber mafia allegedly in nexus with local forest officials are felling trees in the sanctuary. The depletion of green cover is evident in Balikiari and Barabhaya forests within Narasinghpur western wildlife range. 

Sources said a group of timber mafia entered the forests with battery powered chainsaws five days back and chopped several trees.“Logs of valuable trees like teak, cedar, shala, sishu, bandhana, asana, kusum and kangada are transported in pick-up vans to Cuttack and adjacent districts regularly,” the villagers alleged.The mafia’s activities will affect the state government’s plan to set up an eco-tourism project at Baliputa in Kamaladiha gram panchayat, they added. 

This apart, poaching is also rampant in the forests. Locals said poachers enter the sanctuary in two-wheelers and cars and hunt animals like deer, boar and hare. Sources said shortage of staff in the local wildlife range has affected patrolling in the sanctuary. 

While there is no permanent ranger either in Jilinda or in Narasinghpur western wildlife range, an in-charge forester is managing the Jilinda wildlife range office comprising eight forest beats of two sections with the help of only two forest guards. Efforts to elicit response from Satkosia DFO Saroj Kumar Panda on the issue turned futile.