A group of around 200 villagers on Tuesday recovered a huge haul of timber from the forest patrol camp at Saidup in the core area of Palamau Tiger Reserve (PTR) and stumbled upon a saw mill operating nearby.
Latehar district president of Adivasi Sengal Andolan Victor Kerketta, who was in the group, said: “It was a role reversal of sorts. Our men recovered the timber from the building meant for forest officials.”
Kerketta is also a member of the advisory committee on PTR.
Social activist Kanhai Singh said the villagers prepared a list of the recovered timber that included 50 door frames, 40 slippers and four logs and handed a copy of it over to the officials there.
“The PTR officials tried to hoodwink us by saying that the timber were already seized ones and there was nothing illegal about it. But a seized timber is an exhibit for court case. They have to be stamped or numbered by the officials. There is an official seizure register wherein the seized timber’s length, width and girth are fully recorded. Moreover, seized timber cannot be transformed into door frames or slippers for commercial use,” Singh reasoned.
He said they asked for the register and details, but the officials couldn’t provide them.
“There was a saw mill near the patrol camp, which is itself a big violation of the acts and provisions related to wildlife/tiger reserve,” Kerketta said.
Both Kerketta and Singh said a saw mill couldn’t be set up within a 10km radius of any tiger reserve.
They said a saw mill in the core area of PTR could invite imprisonment under the wildlife protection act.
“Can there be a saw mill to cut the seized timber that have to be preserved as exhibits till the disposal of case?” Kerketta asked.
He wondered whether the PTR officials could explain how timber smugglers got the time to fell trees, chop them and prepare door frames and slippers right under the nose of the forest guards.
Shashi Nandkeolyar, head of the forest force and principal chief conservator of forest in Jharkhand, said: “I have been told about the recovery of timber from the forest patrol camp where, I am told, a saw mill also operates. This is a serious matter and a cause for concern. I will ask PTR field director Y.K. Das to get a detailed report from the officials at Saidup. Any official found guilty will face the harshest of punishments.”
