Singhbhum: The forest department team conducted a raid on the Jumbaiburu-Dharnadiri rural road under Kiriburu forest area of Saranda forest division at around 3 am on Saturday and caught a warrior vehicle (JH05BW- 6844) loaded with 20 pieces of thick silpat of Sakhua wood. During this time, the driver of the vehicle and another staff member managed to escape by taking advantage of the darkness. Another number plate has also been recovered from the vehicle, whose number is WB33E-7954.
The wood mafia keeps changing the number plates of the vehicles to dodge the forest department. This action was taken by dozens of courageous teams of the Forest Department as per the instructions of Saranda DFO Abhirup Sinha and under the guidance of IFS Nitish Kumar. IFS Nitish Kumar said that the forest department team was on night patrol.
Meanwhile, at around 9 pm on 26th April, the said empty vehicle was seen going from Karampada side towards Dharnadiri village via Jumbaiburu. The team set up an ambush on the Jumbaiburu-Dharnadiri road at night. At around 3 o’clock in the morning on Saturday, when the said vehicle was coming loaded with wood, the driver’s eyes fell on the forest department people. After this he left the vehicle and ran away. This wood was to be taken to Odisha via Karampada, Topadih.
Smuggling of wood is also taking place from Saranda towards Mazgaon and Badbil via Saddle Gate. The Forest Department has decided to build a checkpoint at Karampada. According to reliable sources, Odisha’s mafia Kallu Miya is involved in this wood smuggling. He was continuously smuggling wood from Saranda via Karampada, Topadih.
Recently also the forest department team had tried to catch the same vehicle but then it was successful in escaping. Due to this incident, the image of the villagers of Dharnadiri and surrounding villages is also getting tarnished in the eyes of the Forest Department. These villages have already been settled after cutting the forest and along with demanding forest rights lease, they are also hoping for all-round development. Recently, after the approval of the Forest Department, a concrete road was constructed to reach the village.