GAIGHAT, DEC 28 - The forests of the eastern parts of Udayapur are undergoing rapid depletion due to illegal felling of trees and smuggling of timber. It is learnt that from the forest of Basaha, Tapeshwori, and Rampur Village Development Committees (VDCs), three dozen trees of commercial importance are being felled and smuggled everyday, according to information provided by a local teacher who was in the district headquarters recently.
Due to an increase in Maoists activities in the region, deforestation has increased at an alarming rate. Unidentified people in groups of 20 to 25 can be spotted within the forest, involved in the felling of trees.
Though the Forest Office is aware of the activities, it has not taken any action to stop this illegal felling of useful trees, say the locals. According to the Rammani Dhital, District Forest Officer (DFO), it was not possible for them alone to stop the illegal activity saying that concerted effort of the officials of Sunsari, Saptari, Udayapur, and Koshi Tappu is required to control the illegal logging. The villagers of this region however, allege that forest officers are involved in the scam.
It is learnt that not only timber smugglers from the surrounding regions of Saptari and Sunsari, but smugglers from Bihar in India also are involved in the cutting and smuggling away of the valuable timber.
Locals are wont to point out that handing the responsibility to local forest consumers committes, especially in Tapeshwor and Rampur, would have controlled the rampant illegal deforestation going on.Posted on: 2003-12-29 05:37

Post Your Comment

Please note that all the fields marked * are mandatory.

* Full Name

* Address

* Email Address

* Comment
[Some of the HTML tags you can use : <b>, <i>, <a>]

* Captcha

Get another CAPTCHA code