CONRAD DIAS
Ranchi, June 24: The Forests, Environment and Climate Change Department is yet to receive any official written instruction from the state government about the removal of sawmills from five-kilometre radius forest areas.
An official from the forest department informed that as soon as they receive the written instructions, they will act upon it and will take necessary steps to remove any licensed or unlicensed saw mills which are located near protected forests.
“The rule has been there for the last 25 years and we do carry out inspection drives regularly. Most of the licensed sawmills are not located within the 5 km radius of protected forests. However, if there are any then it will be removed as per the guideline,” the official added.
There are more than 440 licensed sawmills in Jharkhand and most of them were made when Jharkhand was not separated from Bihar.
In a statement issued by the chief minister’s office on June 15, it was stated that CM Hemant Soren ordered the Forest Department to take immediate action to remove all sawmills falling within a radius of five-kilometres from the forest area.
The initiative has been taken to put a check on the illegal felling of trees in the notified forest areas.
Notably, the forest department has also seized a huge quantity of teak wood by raiding four illegally operated sawmills located in Sarath and Sarwan blocks of Deoghar district a week back.
