The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Joint action to check timber smuggling

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 02, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Joint action to check timber smuggling

S. Harpal Singh

‘Rs. 3-lakh worth teak recovered from railway tracks ’
Multani tribesmen of Chikli village to be the target

ADILABAD: Joint operations by forest officials of Adilabad Forest Division and Kinwat range in bordering Maharashtra will soon be launched to curb timber smuggling on either side. Multani tribesmen are to be the focus of these operations, mainly those who hail from Chikli village in Kinwat taluka of Maharashtra on the border of Bazarhatnoor mandal in the district.

Adilabad Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) K. Mahender Reddy had preliminary consultations on June 30 with police and forest staff from across the border on the nitty-gritty of the operations. “Police help is also being incorporated because the Chikli Multanis are known to be violent,” the DFO points out.

Besides a focussed raid on houses in Chikli village in near future, teams of forest and officials will jointly take up vigilance activities over a longer term to curb the activity of the timber smugglers. About 400 Multani youths from the village engaged in illegal felling and transportation of teak will become the target of the joint operations.

Strange process

It is considered to be a curious phenomenon that teak from the Ichoda forest range in Adilabad division is smuggled into Maharashtra from Dedra village and thereabouts and the timber from Kinwat range is smuggled into Adilabad via train route. The timber that is smuggled into Maharashtra is known to be transported even up to Mumbai.

“Teak logs felled in the Kinwat forest are loaded into a passenger train between Ambari and Kosai railway stations. These logs are thrown out of the moving train at select places close to the borders of Adilabad town. In the last two months we have recovered teak worth about Rs. 3 lakh from the railway tracks,” reveals Mr. Mahender Reddy.

The team comprising Maharashtra police and forest officials will come up to Kosai railway station to identify the smugglers.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh