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More than 500 khair trees felled
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 23 — In another forest scandal more than 500 khair trees have been axed unauthorisedly in Bhadsali shamlat forest in Una division.

The illicit felling was detected by the flying squad of the Forest Department on the basis of complaints received from villagers. By the time the squad was informed the trees had been cut and billets transported out of the state. Only stumps and branches were left in the forest. The squad detected 516 stumps in the area. The felling took place over the past one month.

The massive illegal operation continued for days together, and the revenue department and the forest department took no notice of it.

In another case as many as 31 trees were cut in Dhrui Reserve forest in Amb Forest Range of the Una Forest Division. The matter was brought to the notice of the divisional forest officer concerned by the flying squad. However, instead of helping in investigations, he threatened the members of the squad that they would be booked for trespassing under Section 26 (D) of the Indian Forest Act if they dared to enter the forest without permission. He wrote a letter to the DFO Flying Squad on the issue. With senior officers adopting a defiant posture and flatly refusing to cooperate, the Flying Squad wing which was set up with the objective of checking forest offences, has become an object of ridicule.

It is, thus, not surprising that all sorts of irregularities were being committed in the department. Only last month the Chief Conservator (Protection) during a routine inspection of forest nursery at Gandhawar in Una came across blank muster rolls. Although 20 workers had been engaged in the nursery since February 1, not a single name had been entered in the muster roll till February 17.

The fact that the nursery is located on the main Una-Amb road through which the DFO and other officers frequently cross only indicates that they had not been performing their supervisory duties. Staff of the department has also not been keeping proper record of the confiscated timber. The staff at Gandhawar failed to produce any record of timber kept under its charge. The seized timber is to be listed case wise but in this case no list was made available even after a month after inspection. In such a situation there is ample scope of theft.

Senior officers point out that the Flying Squad wing has failed to act as a deterrent for offenders because of inadequate powers. Lack of cooperation from territorial staff and inability of the department to take action against the guilty officials. It has been carrying out checks to detect illicit felling, misuse of trees allotted under Timber Distribution Rules and other irregularities but it did not have the powers to prosecute the offenders or compound the cases. As a result the offenders were seldom brought to book.

After conducting preliminary inquiry the cases were sent to DFO’s concerned and Conservators of Forest who themselves were indirectly or directly responsible for the lapses. Instead of taking action, they invariably tried to cover up the lapses and shielded the guilty field staff. More often than not they even refused to show the record.

If the government was interested seriously in checking forest offences, it would provide teeth to the Flying Squad Wing by giving it powers of prosecution and ensure strict action against the guilty officials, they stress.