Tripura’s Forest Resources Under Daily Threat as Forest Guards Fail to Tackle Syndicate-Driven Smuggling
By Our Correspondent
Agartala, June 10, 2025
Rampant illegal logging and looting of forest resources continue unabated across Tripura, with forest protection efforts facing severe challenges due to inadequate manpower, lack of vigilance, and sometimes alleged complicity within the system. Despite the presence of a state forest protection force, only a few operations lead to successful interception of stolen forest produce, raising serious concerns about the safety of the state’s rich natural heritage.
The latest incident in the Khowai district day before yesterday has exposed the dangerous ground realities faced by honest forest officers. In a major operation, officials from the Khowai and Tulashikhar forest range intercepted a truck loaded with illegally felled timber. However, what followed was not a moment of justice, but of terror.
According to sources, as the forest department vehicle was returning via the Khowai-Kamalpur National Highway near the Barabil area, a group of forest smugglers launched a brutal attack in broad daylight. Armed with iron rods and thick bamboo sticks, the assailants surrounded the vehicle and began striking indiscriminately, causing serious injuries to one forest range officer, identified as Ratnajit Chakma. He reportedly sustained bleeding injuries and required urgent medical attention.
The attack not only endangered the lives of the forest officials but also triggered widespread panic among the local people present at the scene. Eyewitnesses reported that the forest smugglers acted with impunity, as if emboldened by a system that rarely brings them to justice.
This incident is not an isolated one. Local communities and environmental activists have raised repeated alarms about the systematic loot of valuable timber, bamboo, medicinal plants, and other forest products from Tripura’s reserve and protected forests. Despite several attempts, forest squads often find themselves outnumbered and under-resourced.
Forest insiders suggest that well-connected timber syndicates operate across various forest divisions, exploiting weak enforcement, and in some cases, reportedly bribing their way through checkpoints. Honest officers like Ratnajit Chakma, who dare to resist, face life-threatening consequences.
Public resentment is growing, with many demanding urgent government intervention. A senior forest official, on condition of anonymity, admitted, “We are fighting with minimal manpower and no real security backup. Every operation feels like a war zone.”
The state government has not yet issued an official statement on the Khowai attack, but public pressure is mounting for a judicial probe and enhanced protection for front-line forest staff.
Environmental experts warn that if this pattern continues, Tripura’s forests, home to diverse flora and fauna, will be irreversibly damaged. They call for immediate deployment of joint forces, drone surveillance, community forest protection initiatives, and stricter legal actions to deter such criminal activity.
Tripura’s forest wealth, once a pride of the region, is now being smuggled out in trucks, while those who try to stop it bleed on the roadside.
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