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Mumbai: Following the tough view taken by the Supreme Court in ordering the arrest of a former Maharashtra minister and a bureaucrat for allowing illegal saw mills to operate, the forest department raided two such mills in Buldhana district. "Such a raid would never have taken place in the past if it wasn't for the apex court's stand on violation of forest protection laws," Kishore Rithe, Project Director, Nature Conservation Society, told Gulf News by telephone from Amravati in north Maharashtra. The two illegal saw mills, owned by Jabbar Bhai and M. Karate were raided by the Deputy Conservator of Forests Sanjeev Gowd on Monday.
In 1997, the apex court ordered all unlicensed saw mills and veneer and plywood industries to shut down and that no new licences be granted. The chief secretary of the state was to ensure strict compliance. But Rithe says, "There are around 5,500 saw mills in the state out of which 1,300 are unlicensed and 350 illegal units are operating in full strength." There is certainly a big gap between the total timber available in Maharashtra and the needs of saw mills, he says. "The problem has worsened since money for the government's afforestation programmes has completely dried up when the revenue from logging once earned it Rs90 million (Dh7.5 million) annually. Also, most forest land has gone under wildlife sanctuaries and forest reserves. Strong lobby "Yet the timber lobby is quite strong. Members of the Saw Mills Owners Association include those with legal and unlicensed units. The whole chain of paying bribes and commissions start with local forest and range officers, bureaucrats, personal assistants of ministers and to the minister himself. There is an unwritten understanding," he says. Even if a conservator wanted to take action his big bosses in Mantralaya kept his hands tied. Former transport minister Surupsingh Naik, who was earlier in charge of the forest ministry, and Additional Secretary Ashok Khot were together sentenced to one month in jail for contempt of court for violating forest protection rules on May 10.
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