Deforestation, illegal mining and encroachments on forest land have drastically brought down the timber produce in the State causing revenue losses to the tune of several thousand crore of rupees to the exchequer, said Azad Singh Dabas Additional PCCF speaking at the two-day Chief Conservators of Forests' convention at Academy of Administration here on Monday.
Dabas in his address on the occasion said, “The timber production that was over 60 lakh cubic metre four decades back has been reduced to just 2.5 lakh cubic metre and all this happened due to deforestation, illicit felling of trees and encroachment on forest land.”
He said that only about a dozen divisions are shown here in the map where activities of illegal mining is going on but the fact is that all the 62 forest divisions in the State are affected with illegal mining. At some places, the illegal mining is going on at faster pace whereas at some places, it is going on moderate scale, while in some place it could be negligible. But the claim that most of the divisions are free from illegal mining is not correct, he added.
He further said that neither the State government nor the forest department is interested in stopping illegal activities in the forest due to their own personal reasons. The PCCF claims of zero tolerance in illegal mining whereas the fact is that 100 per cent illegal mining is going on and department is not taking any action over it, he added.