Assam: Elephant killed during gunfight between timber smugglers and forest guards in Dibrugarh

By Avik Chakraborty

DIBRUGARH:

A gunfight between timber smugglers and forest guards at the Dehing-Patkai National park in Dibrugarh led to the death of an elephant on July 19, according to reports.

According to sources, there is rampant timber smuggling and land encroachment at the Dehing-Patkai National park from the Arunachal side of the border.

"The forest guards got information that timber smugglers were slashing trees in the area. Subsequently, they rushed to the spot and a gunfight ensued between the smugglers and the guards. The elephant at the site used for log transportation was killed in the process," said Pradipto Baruah, Divisional Forest Officer, Dibrugarh.

"The timber smugglers were from Arunachal side. The NSCN is also involved in tree felling. Regular patrolling is conducted in the area but sometimes the timber smugglers take advantage of darkness," added Baruah.

"We conducted postmortem of the elephant on Tuesday, and as per the SOP, the carcass was disposed of," Baruah informed.

Mridu Paban Phukan, an environmentalist informed that the smugglers from Arunachal have been involved in the activity for many years, but nothing has been done to date on the illegal tree felling and timber smuggling activities. A number of sawmills are functioning at the Assam-Arunachal border area without the administration taking notice of it.

"The forest protection team is present and stationed at Dibrugarh, however, they don't come here to protect forest resources. If things like this continue the forest will be cleared by the timber smugglers," he alleged.

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

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