GUWAHATI, Dec 28 – Illegal felling of trees in the vast tracts of reserve forest along the Assam-Meghalaya border to the south and south-west of Guwahati is going on unabated, exposing the rich, biodiversity zone with its unique flora and fauna to the gravest possible danger. That the smugglers are having a free run should be evident from the fact that an area of 25 sq km of the Garbhanga reserve forest which is among the biggest protected areas in Kamrup district with a total area of 188.6 sqkm, has been totally degraded, at Luki. An area where the smugglers’ writ runs and forest personnel fear to tread, the lone border outpost (BOP) at Luki was abolished after smugglers operating from Meghalaya gunned down four 10th APBn personnel in 1990. Since then, this strategically located area has been left totally unprotected.
The hilly and inaccessible terrains coupled with an ill-equipped Forest Department low on fund, manpower and resources has been rendering the task of protecting the forests more and more difficult. The road network from Lokhra range office covering Garbhanga, Umthana, Luki, Rajapathar, Kanthampaham and Norlong up to Rani is motorable in parts only and especially during the rainy season, movement often becomes restricted because of landslides, etc. The Meghalaya side, on the other hand, has a very good road network and infrastructure helping the cause of the smugglers who can easily enter the forests from that side and carry on with their depredations. Unless the roads and bridges on the Assam side are properly developed and the forest personnel are made well-equipped, controlling the menace of timber smugglers will remain a distant dream.
Saw mills are mushrooming at the border areas like Patharkhama, Latpanarh, etc., which cater to the illegally-felled timber which ultimately find their way to the main market at Guwahati. To a query of this correspondent, an employee of a mill at Latpanarh said the timber sometimes comes even from Kamrengdanga (South Kamrup) and Rajaghumai and Lumpi (Mayong reserve) areas. A biodiversity hotspot and home to a wide range of endemic flora and fauna, the sprawling Garbhanga reserve forest consists mainly of sal and kako bamboo with stretches of semi-evergreen cover. It is also an important elephant corridor with about 150 Asian elephants and linking their path to the forests of Rani, Meghalaya and Garo Hills.
Apart from timber smuggling, poaching is also nothing new in these forests. The terrain which is much sleeper from the Assam side and relatively plain on the Meghalaya side, makes the operation of poachers and smugglers easier from Meghalaya. Because of the steep climb, the task of Assam forest personnel to monitor anti-forest activities becomes extremely tough. Killing of elephants is common with the poachers hunting them from atop machans.
Jhoom (shifting) cultivation at Garbhanga is also another matter of concern. Although the cultivators are not settling down permanently on forest land, large-scale jhooming is causing degradation of forest land. The Kamrup East Division forest office alone has seized 450 cubic metre illegal timber worth Rs 67.5 lakh till December 17 this year, most of those coming from the border forests. Last year the seizure was 175 cubic metre valued at Rs 25.5 lakh. While giving due credit to the forest personnel for this achievement, at the same time this also reveals the wanton destruction of forests going on unabated. It is high time an effective forest policy is framed and implemented in the right earnest.