2 unauthorised saw mills closed in Kaliyaganj

The forest officials have closed down two unauthorised saw mills at Baghan and Hospital para in Kaliyaganj of North Dinajpur district and seized some machines and logs of woods from the site. During the raid on Saturday afternoon, the forest officials found that such mills were functioning without proper license.

The mill authorities were allegedly operating without any license. Three machines have been seized by the forest. Several lakhs worth of illegal timber has also been seized.

Saugata Mukherjee, the Assistant Divisional Forest Officer of Raiganj Social Forestry Division said: “In the mill in Hospital Para in Kaliyaganj, plywood processing from logs was going on without a peeling license. They only had a pasting license. But no pasting work was being done there so we seized the peeling machines and unauthorised logs from the spot. On the basis of the report, we previously intimated them and had warned them to stop unauthorised operations. However, they turned a deaf ear. Legal action has been taken.”

Another unauthorised saw mill was closed down at Baghan in Kaliyaganj.

Pranab Kumar Modak, the owner of an alleged unauthorised saw mill in Kaliyaganj said: “We have a license for wood pasting. After submitting the application for a peeling license, we installed machines and started wood peeling. We have no intention for unauthorised business.”