By: Toyanath Bhattarai, Illam
Only five armed forest guards are currently deployed for protecting 38,000 hectares of forest in Chure and other areas of Ilam, a district in the eastern hills. With the restructuring of the Department of Forests, the number of forest guards has been drastically reduced, making things easier for smugglers. Earlier, the number of positions for armed forest guards was 33.
Shree Prasad Baral, an officer at the Department of Forests in Ilam, says that the change has added to the challenges of forest conservation. The change was introduced partly because of the decline in forest cover in the area. Of late, a number of municipalities and rural municipalities in Ilam have witnessed decreasing numbers of Sal trees. “But the government has not paid attention to improving the conservation mechanism or increasing the manpower for forest protection. There are only 40 unarmed forest guards,” says Baral.
Last year, forest guards were attacked by a group of 80 wood smugglers at Ratuwa Khola Chepti in Chulachuli rural municipality. Since the smugglers didn’t escape from the area even after the guards fired seven rounds of bullet, armed police personnel from Beldangi in the adjoining district of Jhapa had to be called in. Smuggling of wood has not stopped even when the Department of Forests, Nepal Police and Armed Police Force have been guarding the forests.
Smuggled logs from Ilam are reportedly sold to saw mills in Jhapa and Morang
Last year, forest guards were attacked by a group of 80 wood smugglers at Ratuwa Khola
Locals say that smuggling has been taking place from different checkpoints and rivers in Mai municipality and Chulachuli rural municipality. A few days ago, security personnel recovered 73 cubic feet of wood from a house in Mai municipality. APF Inspector Sanat Kumar Bista of Danabari says no proof of personal ownership of the wood could be found. He also says that while wood smuggling in Danabari has come down due to the presence of armed security personnel, it still is taking place in certain parts of Domukha and Chulachuli.
Pradip Chandra Rai, Chairperson of Chulachuli rural municipality, says smugglers have put Ilam’s Chure region at risk. “Even those arrested are later found to be porters employed by smugglers,” he laments. According to him, the smuggled wood from Ilam is taken across Ratuwa and Chanju rivers and transported to Jhapa. Locals claim logs are sometimes taken to Jhapa by drifting them downstream in the Mai river, and then smuggled across the border to India.
Suraj Niraula, an assistant officer at Sub-Division Forest Office in Mai, pleads ignorance about the smuggling of wood from Ilam along the river. “I’m new here and taking stock of the situation,” he says.
That smuggled wood from Chure is transported using public buses, trucks and even bicycles is mentioned in a report published by the National Natural Resources and Fiscal Commission in 2010. The logs from Ilam are reportedly sold to saw mills in Jhapa and Morang.