Sendhwa forest department in Bharwani district of Madhya Pradesh conducted the biggest ever illegal timber seizure in the history of the forest division. A team of four ranges led by the Forest Division Officer, Anupam Sharma and SDO, Mani Shankar Mishra conducted the seizure on the evening of 27 August. The operation continued for around 22 hours and illicit timber in huge quantity was seized from the premises.
The combined efforts of the teams were congratulated by the senior officials and were highly applauded on social media. Also, with these efforts, the forest department managed to take down a huge operation of illegal timber smuggling between the two states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES
Sendhwa is located at the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and it comprises of five different ranges. The incident where this seizure was made is located in Dhanora range of Chacharia village. The village is located around 30-40 km away from the Maharashtra border, making it a little easy for such an activity to operate in such a large scale.
The forest department of Sendhwa in the past few months had conducted raids in four to five small units, where they managed to nab the people who are involved in such activities and also seized the illegal timber which was coming from Maharashtra to various places of Sendhwa division.
While talking to Indian Masterminds, IFS officer Anupam Sharma said, “We had some information of such illegal activities going on in the forest division. However, any information regarding the accumulation of illegal timber in such high magnitude at one place was unimaginable and unknown.”
INFORMATION REGARDING THE PREMISES
Mr. Sharma further said, “Initially, we had some information from our informants about such activity because of which we sent some forest guards in civil dress to inspect the place. However, they could not spot much of it while visiting there. On 27 August, the SDO, Mani Shankar Mishra, along with a range team of Range Officer Jeevan Polaya reached the area but could not spot much before they stepped into the main premises.”
Soon after entering the premises, built on around one acre land, the SDO understood the magnitude of the operation and immediately called the IFS officer along with the support staff. Mr. Anupam Sharma took a team of two ranges headed by Range Officers Tarunendra Singh Rajnesh Tripathi reached the premises by 7-7:30 pm on 27 August.
BIGGEST TIMBER SEIZURE IN SENDHWA
The premises included three godowns where different type of timber was kept in different godowns. It was also surrounded with high boundary walls of around 8-9 feet due to which such an activity was not spotted by anyone.
As it was late in the evening, the forest department did not get any support of the local villagers and labourers. The timber which was cut from the trees was in huge amount, therefore, the department had to hire six trucks, three tractors and one pickup vehicle to carry it back.
The operation which started from 6 pm after the SDO reached with the team in the village, it continued till four in the morning after which the forest guards and other members were highly exhausted. Till that time, almost 80-90 percent of the illegal timer was seized but as the team was exhausted, they left at 4 am in the morning.
Mr. Sharma said, “To pick up the leftover timber which was mostly low value, the team, headed by Range Officer Hemant Prajapati, which was not called in for the operation that night was sent in the morning to pick it up. The final measurement of illegal timber that was seized has not yet come but it is estimated that the number will go up to 30 to 40 cubic meters.”
It seemed that an entire forest was mercilessly cut and was kept in the premises. After overlooking the size of the timber, it is estimated that the cutting of trees was not done in the forest division of Sendhwa but was smuggled from the nearby state.
Anupam Sharma, IFS, DFO Sendhwa
While appreciation is pouring in from all sections, the huge seizure has also increased the responsibility of the forest department to avoid such incidents in the division and take strict actions against the people who are involved in such illegality. After this seizure, the joint patrolling of inter-state department officials will be resumed again, so that there is enough coordination to stop such illegal activities.
