ITANAGAR, Oct 19: A meeting of the territorial forest division (FD) of the Khellong forest division of Bhalukpong, the Bomdila forest division, and the Sonitpur (Assam) forest division was held at Tezpur on Monday to check illegal timber trade.
The meeting was aimed at establishing coordination between the border forest divisions of Assam and Arunachal to check illegal movement of timber and share intelligence and inputs on suspects involved in illegal timber trade.
“It will help in curbing illegal timber transportation under fake transit passes,” Khellong Divisional Forest Officer VK Jawal informed in a release.
The members at the meeting adopted a protocol to curb illegal timber trade.
While the boarding forest division will form a WhatsApp group to facilitate faster sharing of information, the range officers of the border divisions will undertake joint patrolling in vulnerable areas to check illegalities.
The DFOs of Bhalukpong and Bomdila will share details of the transit pass books in use with their counterparts in Sonitpur and Udalguri in Assam to curb illegal transportation of timber using fake transit passes.
In the meeting, which was attended by Jawal, Bomdila DFO C Loma, Sonitpur DFO R Konwar, DCF AK Deka, and ACF Vikas, it was resolved to establish cooperation to curb illegal timber movement across the interstate boundaries between Assam and Arunachal.
