KUSUM (BANKE), JUL 01 - Forest officials and rangers in Banke have been found guilty of causing deforestation in various government and community forests.

A panel formed by the parliamentary Natural Resources and Means Committee has indicted Banke’s forest officials, including Director of Mid-Western Regional Forest Directorate Rishiram Tripathi and Shyam Sharma and Bishwanath Mahato of the District Forest Office (DFO).

“Such massive deforestation would never have occurred had they not been involved,” said probe panel coordinator Ram Kumar Sharma. The panel came across large hauls of timber in various forest areas.

Sharma said his team also found evidence to corroborate the role of the forest officials in deforestation.

The panel has accused district forest officers (DFOs) Shyam Sharma and Bishwanath Mahato of arbitrarily registering community forests and condoning deforestation. The duo jointly okayed registration of 34 community forests in one year, thus providing leeway for deforestation.        

The connivance of senior officials at the Forest Ministry and Forest Department is also suspected in timber smuggling racket. “The silence maintained by the ministry at a time when the forest officers were on a deforestation rampage suggests that high level government officials are also involved,” said panel member Mohammad Ishtiaque Rain.  

Locals said forest officers and timber smugglers colluded in a massive tree-felling drive for the past nine months. 

Nineteen community forests at Kusum region were denuded. The DFO had permitted 74 community forest groups of Banke to cut trees. Nearly two-fold the permitted number of trees were cut, yielding around 500,000 cubic feet of timber.  

The Motipur-based Ganapati Community Forest was obliterated while many other forestlands were degraded. The panel is preparing to initiate prosecution against the guilty.

“This is a grave crime and no one, not even the forest officers will be let off the hook,” Sharma said.

Posted on: 2010-07-01 08:52

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