Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The efforts made by forest officials to prevent the illegal cutting of teak (Sagwan) trees have borne fruit as in the last three and half years the number of teak trees felled illegally has come down.
In 2020, 3,745 teak trees were illegally cut and in the first six months (June) of this year, only 810 teak trees have been felled illegally.
DFO Narendra Pandwa said, “The number has come down due to constant patrolling by forest officials. We also use sniffer dogs in our operations when we receive information of tree cutting in the forest area,” he said.
In 2020, a total of 3,745 trees were cut by the thieves and 811 cases were registered. A total of 211.785 cubic metres of wood was recovered. In 2021, a total of 3,180 trees were cut (565 fewer than in 2020) while 777 cases were registered. A total of 208.067 cubic metres of wood was recovered.
Similarly in 2022, only 857 trees were cut and 306 cases were registered and 54.507 cubic metres of wood was recovered.
This year, by June only 810 trees were cut illegally and 325 cases have been registered.
What about Sandalwood?
Very few cases of sandalwood theft have been reported. We use sniffer dogs to track sandalwood thieves as the smell is very strong
