Tigiria residents have alleged that mafias in connivance with unscrupulous Forest Department officials are cutting and transporting outside hundreds of valuable and old trees in broad daylight from the Kalichaballav jungle under the Athagarh forest range.
Several four wheelers are carrying big logs of saguan and sal trees through this area every day, said some locals.
Some eyewitnesses said over 1,000 big trees have been cut from Kalichaballav jungle, the roots of which are now visible. Mafias shrewdly cut old trees during rainy season so that green leaves can hide the truth that such big trees ever erected in this jungle.
Villagers have also alleged that several sawmills with no license are running in the jungle area to cut wood to size for transportation.
When asked, DFO Arun Mishra declined to say anything against his subordinate officers.
Intelligentsia have condemned the illegal cutting of trees and demanded that a high-level inquiry be conducted into the matter and stringent action be taken against the unscrupulous Forest officers.