Nagpur: Chandrapur forest officials have unearthed an inter-state scam involving illegal transportation of teak timber. The discovery has raised questions over the forest department’s activities, particularly with regard to issuing mandatory transit passes (TP) without proper verification of the transported materials, reports Vijay Pinjarkar. According to the documents obtained by TOI, AK Gade, a forest officer from Seminary Hills area, had issued a TP to Ideal Traders, located at Kapsi (Khurd), Bhandara Road, on July 25, 2024, for transportation of ‘189 huge pieces (21.38 cubic metres) of finished sawn timber’ to Ratnam Timber Traders in Guntur. However, the truck (AP-05-TA-8568) carrying the sawn timber, worth over Rs 10 lakh and covered by the issued TP, was also found to be carrying large roundwood logs, 14 in all, estimated to be worth around ₹25-₹30 lakh. No TP was issued for these logs, suggesting that forest officials are not verifying the materials before issuing passes. The truck was intercepted by forest officials from Chandrapur in Ballarshah and all the material was offloaded. A provisional offence report (POR) has been filed in connection with the case. Faizan Mirza, a lawyer who exposed the scam, alleged that timber worth crores of rupees is being transported illegally, resulting in significant revenue loss to the state. “This cannot have happened for the first time,” he said. However, Bharat Singh Hada, deputy conservator of forests (DyCF) of Nagpur division, claimed that the truck was intercepted after he alerted the Chandrapur forest officials.

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