KOZHIKODE: An email sent by an upright timber merchant in Ernakulam to the Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF), Northern Range, in early February blew the lid off the illegal felling of trees worth crores of rupees from Wayanad which shocked the state. “As a responsible businessman, I request you to look into this matter and if you find out any irregularities, I am happy to transport the entire logs to the place you say at our own expense,” wrote 65-year old M M Aliyar, managing partner of Malabar Timber Industries, Karimugal, Ernakulam.
Though the Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi, a green organisation, had raised the issue in Wayanad on February 4, authorities woke up only after the email from Aliyar.Aliyar shot off the letter to the CCF after he didn’t find a mandatory supporting document with the 54 logs (13.316 cubic metre) of rosewood he received from Roji Augustine, proprietor of Surya Timbers, Wayanad, and key accused in the Muttil tree felling case.
The logs were transported from Muttil on February 3 and reached Karimugal the next day after paying Rs 18,85,544 as transportation charges. “But the mandatory pass issued under Form 3 under the Kerala Promotion of Tree Growth in Non-Forest Land Act, 2005, was not there. We alerted Surya Timbers and they replied that it would be made available soon. But nothing happened. We suspected that the origin of the timber could be illegal and Surya Timbers had not got such a permit,” Aliyar told.
Further, Aliyar told the forest department that he was ready to depose before any authority against Roji Augustine and will even launch legal proceedings against Surya Timbers. Soon after receiving the email, CCF D K Vinod Kumar formed a six-member special investigation team to probe the matter. Meppadi Forest Range Officer (RO) M K Sameer and team rushed to Ernakulam and seized the rosewood on February 8. It was part of the 101 rosewood trees the timber lobby had cut from South Muttil village with the alleged connivance of the revenue department.
While Sameer and team was in Karimugal, another forest department team led by Mundakai Deputy Range Officer P B Manoj Kumar searched Surya Timbers office at Vaazhavatta in Muttil and found glaring misrepresentation in the stock register, purchase register and other documents.