New Delhi: The Himachal Pradesh forest department and local environmentalists have denied involvement of “timber mafia” in the incident of wooden logs floating on the Ravi river and termed it a routine occurrence. However, no one has been able to fully explain the images captured on camera and viral on social media.
There are multiple theories as to the origin of the logs—salvaged wood from the forest development corporation’s depots, dead wood from protected areas or simply drift wood from higher regions.
Flooding of the Ravi and Beas rivers has brought deluge to the Himalayan state, and videos of hundreds of wooden logs floating on river water near Chamba district have been viral on social media.
The Supreme Court took note of the videos Thursday in response to a PIL seeking action to prevent ecological destruction in the Himalayan states.
“Prima facie, it appears there has been illegal felling of trees ongoing upstream… we need to look into this otherwise we will have no forests left,” Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai said, taking note of the videos from Himachal Pradesh.
Forest department officials in Chamba district, however, said the videos only showed dead wood and debris from protected forests near the river banks.
“It is all driftwood, because the terrain is very steep here in Chamba, any landslides or floods bring with them these dead trees from forest floors,” Kritagya Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Chamba, told ThePrint. “This isn’t the first time this has happened, and the department can assure nothing untoward is underway.”
Over the last week, heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh and Punjab has led to massive flooding in Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers, with many districts including Manali, Chamba, Kullu, and Kangra completely inundated.
While videos from Chamba’s Sheetal bridge showing the floating logs emerged end-August, there was a similar video from Kullu district back in January when the area had flooded. The videos had sparked conversations on social media about extreme deforestation, tree felling and even “wood mafia” in the state.
Speaking to ThePrint, Manuj Sharma, an environment activist based in Chamba, also said “we have seen these logs many times, not just this year”.
“It’s quite common for them to be swept in from catchment areas of the Ravi during heavy flooding. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re illegally felled trees; they could just be naturally dead.”
Also Read: Manali floods show how short-term tourism vision brings long-term ruin
Where are the logs coming from?
According to Kumar, the wood seen in the videos was a result of piling up of dead trees and branches in the forests upstream of the Ravi, near Phase I of Chamera Dam.
“There are some forests that are protected areas entirely and are untouched by people. When trees die there, sometimes they fall into the river and flow down and get stuck near the Chamera Dam,” he explained. “When we get such heavy rains, all dams are opened and along with the water this debris and logs too flow downstream.”
About allegations of illegal tree felling in the state, Kumar said: “Most of the trees cut, if at all, are by local people who have settlement rights, and it’s hardly ever at a scale that could harm the ecosystem.”
While there was an inquiry by the Himachal Pradesh forest department about illegal tree felling in Chamba this January, it did not lead to anything substantive.
The Himachal Pradesh Forest (Settlement) Rules of 1965 grant local citizens the permission to use wood for building homes, agricultural purposes and funeral purposes in the state. Also, the Himachal Pradesh State Forest Development Corporation is allowed to salvage and sell wood from dead, diseased or uprooted trees.
The corporation has five main depots across the state to sell timber through auction, and three other depots, including in Chamba district. All of these are legal forms of wood felling in the state.
For timber and MDF factories in the area, the wood used is generally imported from Malaysia, according to Kumar and local activists.
Neither Kumar nor Sharma could, however, explain the sheer amount of wood and why the logs were all shaped like sleeper logs and not regular trees. On this point, Manshi Asher, environmentalist and co-founder of Himdhara, a research and action collective, had a possible explanation.
“It could be that these are salvaged wood logs from the forest department’s depots,” said Asher. “I am not sure, no one is, but the floods could have affected one of the depots where the department stores its logs and the wood might have floated down from there.”
ThePrint has reached the state forest development corporation for comment via mail. This report will be updated if a response is received.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Dharali floods a wake-up call for IMD, NDMA to buck up—the Himalayan region is vulnerable