According to the forest office, this is the first time such a large pile of sal has been seized in the district. A total of 400 sal planks were recovered from Bangaysimal in Birendranagar VDC-1. [break]
A team of forest officials and police had commenced digging the ground out of suspicion after seeing a few sal planks left piled on the ground, and they found more of the planks, informed Ram Bichar Thakur, the district forest officer.
"We recovered the wooden planks buried under harvested fields. This incident has added another challenge to our attempt to stop wood smuggling in the district," said Thakur.
After collecting the planks, the office ha arrested Sarmila BK, Sita BK, Binita BK, Purna Bahadur Nepali and Madan BK of Birendranagar VDC-1 on suspicion of their involvement.
"We have taken them into custody because the lands from where the wooden planks were recovered belonged to them. The identity of the real culprits will be uncovered soon," said Thakur.
However, the main owners of the lands in question, Om BK and Gauri BK, are at large, informed Thakur.
The district forest office has surmised that the hidden wood was cut into planks around five months ago.
Surkhet Chief District Officer Pursotam Kunwar has accused the forest officials of incompetence. "The district forest office should focus more on stopping the rapidly increasing deforestation rather than detaining the culprits after the trees have been felled," said Kunwar.
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