Utkal Bharat president Kharabela Swain alleged that timber mafias in collusion with political people were causing massive destruction to the forests and environment.
In a Press brief on Monday, the former MP alleged that about 60 saw mills were operating in Baleswar and most of them were illegally operated hand in glove with the political people.
Quoting an instance of a saw mill, he said a saw mill operative in Suteibadagaon under Saraswatipur panchayat under Remuna block was stopped after he brought it to the notice of the district forest officials. After its dismantling, he said, “I was approached by a petty leader of ruling BJD to be silent on the matter. Yet I discarded the request. After knowing the local sarpanch, belonging to BJP, informed me about the mill, the BJP MlA and other of the party men conspired against him. They moved a no confidence motion against him. On the issue both BJP and BJD joined hands against the sarpanch. Both these parties are patronizing the corruption and unethical principles,” said Swain.
The days are not far India would face similar situations like China struggling with excess pollution level if such trend continues. The residents are going out with mask. The massive scale of tree felling would lead to global warming and the consequences on the human beings would be catastrophic, he said, adding that the need of hours is to stop illegal saw mills and act tough against the timber mafias.
Party’s members Mahemdra Mahapatra , Ajay Pradhan, Biswajit Das and Prasanna Raul were among others present in the meeting.