Forest officials led by ACFs Jitendra Mohanty and Khyama Sarangi on Wednesday conducted a raid on Garg Saw Mill, which was running illegally at Nehrupalli near Durgapur reserved forest, and arrested its owner Ramesh Garg.
They also seized three big electric motors, one wheel and thirty cubic feet timber from the saw mill compound. The raid has panicked other illegal saw mill owners in the steel city too. While the Forest Act prohibits running of saw mills within 10 kilometres radius of reserved forests, at least six saw mills here are violating the norm, sources said.
Though their owners were served notices to shift their saw mills to various locations at Kalunga identified by the IDCO, they could not do so as they had to pay rent for the land. They are running their saw mills on encroached Government, RSP and Railways’ land, the sources added.The raid was conducted on the Garg Saw Mill as slum dwellers, during an eviction drive undertaken on Tuesday, urged the Railway authorities to demolish the saw mill first before removing them from the area.Garg has been released on bail, sources said.