Visakhapatnam becomes haven for timber smugglers

With citizens struggling with day-to-day existence and administration busy with relief works following the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Hudhud, timber smugglers are having a field day ferrying away logs of trees that fell prey to the cyclone on the roads of the city.

In fact, with nearly 80 percent of the green cover of the city wiped out by the cyclone, timber smuggling is emerging as a lucrative opportunity for timber smugglers. The nearly five lakh trees, including huge and mid-sized ones that were either uprooted totally or partially in the city are proving to be fodder for the around 50 to 70 major timber depots in and around Visakhapatnam and nearly 250 small timber and sawmills, sources said.

Residents of several areas have been complaining about timber traders coming with groups of labourers and allegedly chopping up the fallen trees and in many instances illegally taking away logs that have been cut and placed by the roadside for clearing the roads."When groups of people started coming in trucks to cut the fallen trees and clear the roads, initially we thought they were sent by the administration. When we questioned them, they said they are clearing the roads. It was only yesterday that we realised that they belong to a timber depot and are illegally taking away the logs piled up by the sides of the roads," said A Prabhakara Rao, one of the residents of MVP Colony's Sector-V, pointing out that thousands of trees had fallen in MVP Colony. Teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), fire and police departments, among others, have been clearing the roads in and around Visakhapatnam over the past five days by cutting the uprooted trees and filing lakhs of logs on either side of the roads.

According to sources from the revenue department and municipal corporation, around 35 000 to 50 000 trucks, each with a capacity of 20 tons, would be required to clear the nearly seven lakh tons of logs or branches of trees piled up along the roads.

"We need around 5 000 trucks to clear the tree branches and logs from MVP Colony alone. So, transporting all the logs from the roads in the city will take a couple of weeks. We are first clearing fallen tree branches, which were cut into pieces," state municipal administration and urban development minister P Narayana told TOI. He said currently discussions were underway on whether the logs should be auctioned off and a decision would be taken very soon.

"The logs can be useful for centering works in the various construction sites and some of the wood can also be utilised for windows and door frames. Generally, builders use logs of trees whose wood is strong," said a timber depot owner.

After learning about the theft of logs, municipal minister Narayana said he would bring it to the notice of the CM and take immediate steps to protect logs. He also urged residents to inform the police if they found anybody transporting logs from their respective areas.

Source: The Times of India