Purushottam P. Khatri
Kathmandu, Apr 15 : A team of the Armed Police Force Nepal (APF) can be seen cordoning off the area near the premises of the Department of Forest and Soil Conservation at Babarmahal for the past 15 years just for two red sandalwood-loaded trucks.
These sandalwoods seized while being smuggled from India to China via Nepal has become a matter of headache for the government.
Chief of the Division of Participatory Forest Office and the Joint-Secretary of the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Dr. Sindhu Prasad Dhungana, said the seized red sandalwood has become almost a ‘headache’ for the government. “We have been providing security here to these seized goods for the last 15 years,” said Dhungana.
“These illegal goods have really become a matter of worry for the government. We are not allowed to use it, nor can we earn revenue by auctioning it. But we have been providing security here,” Dhungana said.
He said, “Despite repeated decisions of the Cabinet meetings asking India, the country of their origin, to take back the sandalwood, the country has shown no interest in taking it back.”
In 2006, a temporary post of the Armed Police was set up on the premises of the Forest Department for their security.
Three years later, the Forest Department Security Base Camp of APF was set up on September 23, 2009 with 30 Armed Police Force under the command of the Inspector of Police. The base camp is still there.
But for the past two years, only 10 APF personnel have been guarding the area under the command of the Deputy Police Inspector.
“Reason for this is that it neither can be sold nor be auctioned now,” the officials said. Since no one can buy it even during the auction, it has been put on hold without any auction.
“We have been told to protect the sandalwood which were dumped in two containers,” the in-charge of the base camp told The Rising Nepal on condition of anonymity during the field visit this week.
The two containers – one with a number plate “Na 2 Kha 4867” and the other with illegible number plate – have been kept covered by the tarpaulins since then.
“We haven’t really opened the truck yet, we don’t even know the amount of wood there,” he said.
Red sandalwood seized in six districts – Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kavrepalanchowk, Sindhupalchowk and Rasuwa – has been kept on the premises of the Department.
According to the data provided by Surendra Prasad Adhikari, Assistant Forest Officer of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Branch of the Department, a total of 88,542 kg of sandalwood lie on the premises.
Of that, 30,551.6 kg was recovered from Sindhupalchowk, 73,319.25 kg from Kathmandu, 619 kg from Lalitpur, 49 kg from Bhaktapur, 57 kg from Kavrepalanchowk and 13,946.8 kg from Rasuwa.
According to the data provided by the Department, 211,054 kg of red sandalwood seized from 20 different districts has been kept in Nepal.
According to Adhikari, all of them were seized while being smuggled from India to China via Nepal. “Nepal is just a transit hub to smuggle these goods to China from India,” he said.
He said that still court cases are pending in various courts of the country regarding settlement of 16,487 kg of the wood.
According to an employee of the Department, the price of red sandalwood in the international market is up to Rs. 8,000 per kg. On that basis, red sandalwood worth more than Rs. 1.68 billion is going down the drain. For the purpose of fixing the fine in the court, the assessment is done at the rate of Rs. 800 per kg, which is many times less than the actual price.
The person concerned has not taken back their 8,459 kg of red sandalwood which should have been returned to the person who had won their court cases. “Reason for this is that it neither can be sold nor be auctioned now,” the officials said. Since no one can buy it even during the auction, it has been put on hold without any auction.
Red sandalwood has also been seized in Chitwan, Sarlahi, Dolakha, Jhapa, Nawalparasi, Taplejung, Kapilvastu, Dhading, Terhathum, Rupandehi, Bajhang, Gorkha, Sankhuwasabha and Saptari, districts where the armed forest guards of the Division Forest Office haven been protecting it.