RAUTAHAT, JANUARY 10

A large amount of timber stored at the Division Forest Office of Rautahat is decaying.

Thousands of cubic feet of sal and other timber worth tens of millions of rupees can be seen decaying near the gate of the division forest office and other places, where it has been lying for the past 20 years or so.

Of the total timber dumped at different places, some 4,000 cubic feet of sal timber had been confiscated during the tenure of the then DFO Chief Arjun KC. The office had seized the timber upon getting a tip-off that some people were illegally collecting sal timber for firewood in the name of collecting fallen twigs and branches. Though a case was filed after seizure of the timber, the timber was dumped in the open and has now started to decay as the case is yet to be settled.

Similarly, the forest office had also confiscated some 100 cartful of sal timber from Balarikor forest. That timber too, along with the carts, is rotting away.

Division Forest Office acting Chief Amardev Yadav lamented that precious timber worth a lot of money was wasting due to the never-resolving court cases. As the cases have not been settled, we can't auction the seized timber even though we very much want to auction it.

"In most cases, we only find timber as those involved in smuggling often manage to flee, so it becomes difficult to settle cases related to these confiscations. As a result, the seized timber simply decays in the place where it's kept," he said.

Along with the prized timber, some 419 trucks, tractors, jeeps, minibuses, buffalo carts, motorbikes and cycles are rusting away.


A version of this article appears in the print on January 11, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.