The people of Seram village under Mebo Sub-Division in East Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh have pulled up their sleeves against timber smuggling.
Led by village gaon burah, Josung Modi and village secretary, Amit Modi, the villagers have appealed the divisional forest officer, Pasighat forest division and principal chief conservator of forest to stop illegal timber logging and its business under Seram Forest Beat.
The unscrupulous elements involved in illegal timber trade supplies timber logs to Assam by rafting through the Siang or the Brahmaputra River.
The villagers alleged timber logging and its trade are rampant in the area which is taking place under the very nose of the Seram forest Beat under Mebo range office in Pasighat forest division.
“We have been seeing large scale illegal timber logging and rafting in the rivers of Sisar and Siang confluence and the timber mafias have started felling trees of our community forest owned by villagers as the reserve forest trees are already destroyed,” said the gaon burah.
The gaon burah also said he had written a complaint letter in this matter addressing DFO Pasighat forest division but there was no action on it.
The village secretary also said he too had written a reminder letter to DFO but no concrete action has been taken so far.
Amit Modi said the illegal timber logging is rampant in the area including lifting of drift wood from Siang river banks which are banned by district administration.
But despite the ban, the timber mafias are doing the illegal business in broad daylight.