Plans to stop special permits for buying logs from forest depots
Pinaki Roy
The government plans to stop issuing special permits for buying wood from its depots as the official documents often end up being abused by illegal traders and also mean a loss in revenue from timber sales. Usually, the permits are given to influential individuals like ministers, lawmakers, and civil and military officials to buy logs at bargain prices for building house or making furniture.
They entitle ministers and state ministers to buy up to 500 cubic feet, and secretaries and military high-ups 300 cft wood.
Unfortunately, these papers have long been a cover for unauthorised timber trade. Bought from original holders and sometimes issued with official connivance, they are widely used in getting illegal logs past the forest checkpoints and delivered to sawmills and furniture shops, said forest ministry officials.
Talking about the permit system, State Minister for Environment and Forest Mustafizur Rahman Fizar recently told The Daily Star, “This is like giving unlawful loggers a licence to operate. If we are to save our last remaining forests, we must stop issuing permits.”
Besides, he added, general people are not benefiting from this.
The stocks at forest department depots consist mainly of illegally felled trees seized at check posts across the country. They are sold at auctions and to permit holders.
Currently, the government earns between Tk 60 to Tk 70 crore a year from sales of wood and honey. Its annual proceeds from timber sales under permits and open auctions total Tk 50 crore, said a source working in the forest department.
Forest Secretary Rezaul Kabir said, “As per the existing practice, prices of wood for the permit holders are fixed by averaging out the rates at last three auctions.”
People are eager to get permits because the government rates are way below the market prices.
Industry sources said one cft shegun costs around Tk 3,000 on the market, whereas the rate under a permit is not more than Tk 2,000.
Worse still, a forest official said, most of the permit owners choose the best-quality wood but pay the worst rate.
“If we could auction that wood, the department would earn three times what it is earning now,” added the official who would not be identified talking about the issue.
Log permits were introduced in the late 90s. Since then, the ministry issues permits for more than one lakh cft wood every year. The sales at Firingibazar depot in Chittagong alone were over 30,000 cft last year.
Many take out permits just to sell those to loggers, sawmill owners or timber traders. If somebody gets a permit for 200 cft, he can sell it for an amount ranging between Tk 40,000 and Tk 100,000, depending on the variety of wood and situation, said a forest depot official.
After a major seizure of valuable wood, some forest officials arrange permits in different names and buy the timber only to sell outside at higher price, he added.
Even a couple of years ago, earning from backdoor deals over illegal logging was so high that many officials would readily pay several lakh takas for posting at key forest zones like Rangamati, Chittagong, Sylhet and the Sundarbans, said ministry sources.
Now that logging is completely prohibited, the scrapping of permit system would make transport of illegal logs difficult as there would be no legal documents to be used.
In the long run, it would be of great help in containing denuding of the country’s forests that have already been reduced to five to six percent of the total land.
In Bangladesh, per capita forestland is 0.02 hectares, which is one of the lowest forest-to-man ratios in the world.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
