Forest property of Rs 20 lakh in Hailakandi destroyed by offenders

Silchar: More than one lakh forest resources, including saplings and saplings planted by the forest department at a nursery in south Assam’s Hailakandi district, were allegedly set ablaze by a gang of three offenders.

The incident was reported from Malicherra under Kukicherra forest range, about 40 km from Hailakandi town.
In this regard, an FIR was registered by the Forest Department at Katlicherra Police Station on Tuesday.

According to the complaint, three offenders, identified as Abdul Shaikh, Baduddin and Fakhrul Islam, all residents of Hailakandi district, entered the premises of the nursery in Malicherra at around 1 am on December 1 with sharp edges and deadly weapons. broke in and threatened to kill two. Nursery janitors

The offenders then destroyed saplings, poly pots and other piles of plants and later set them on fire. The complaint states that property worth Rs 20 lakh has been destroyed.

A copy of the FIR has also been submitted to the Divisional Forest Officer, Hailakandi .
Sources said that after the FIR was registered, a team of policemen from Katlicherra police station led by Assistant Sub-Inspector F Ahmed visited the nursery and conducted a preliminary investigation.
Raids are being conducted to arrest the accused. However, no one has been arrested yet.

Another source said, “Several houses have been demolished, fishing has been cut off and part of an eviction drive by the forest department to end illegal encroachments after the government order in Malicherra a few months ago. A large number of betel nut trees were cut down.It is suspected that the accused destroyed the forest resources to take revenge.
When contacted, Helakundi Divisional Forest Officer Akhil Dutta told East Mojo on Thursday that the matter has been reported to the police authorities and a search is on to nab all the culprits.

Asked about the motive behind destroying forest resources, Dutta speculated that the miscreants did it for “interests”.
In October last year, around 4,000 agar plants and saplings spread over 1.5 hectares of forest land were destroyed by unknown miscreants in the Gopalpur-Pingcherra area of ​​the Dohalia forest range in Karimganj district. An eviction drive was also launched by the Forest Department in 2021 in the Gopalpur-Pingcherra area to clear an illegally encroached area spanning 50 hectares for plantation.