the goan I network
PONDA
Continuing the seizure operation against illegal khair wood trade, another racket of smugglers was trapped by a Ponda Range Forest Officer and his team near Banastarim bridge from a private property in Ponda Taluka.
One tempo trax vehicle bearing registration number GA-02-A-8884 was seized while loading and transporting illegally felled Khair trees on January 15.
Three people namely Hulgappa Biradar, Shivappa Hunkuntti and Devappa Balappa Naikar all native of Karnataka were arrested while three others managed to flee from the spot.
Taking the leads from arrested persons, a raid was conducted at Devasu Korgao, Pernem, where the prime accussed Damodar G Nagvekar, resident of Devsu, Korgao, Pernem was arrested. He operates a licensed khair wood kiln but was using illegally cut khair wood as raw material.
The said khairwood kiln was seized and Nagvekar was arrested by Forest team.
Forest team have seized illegally cut Khair wood worth Rs 3 lakh, one trax vehicle and other tools used in crime like chain saw, axe, bill hook etc.
The Forest team was led by Vishwas Chodankar, RFO mobile squad (Ponda) and his team consisted of Hanumant Dessai RF, Rajender Gaonkar RF, Prajot Naik RF, Devu Shetkar FG, Satyvan Gawas FG, Akshay Gauns FG, Sham Dhargalkar FG, Anand Naik FG and others. Khair (Acacia catechu) is a forest produce as per Indian Forest Act , 1927, illegal felling and transportation is a criminal offence.
