Due to lack of timely auction management in the Madhesh Pradesh Forest Offices, the recovered vehicles have started rotting under the open sky. According to the Division Forest Offices, the vehicles seized for illegal timber smuggling from the national forest area will become junk and rot if the case is not resolved by the court.
What you should know
In the premises of Division Forest Office, Rautahat, hundreds of vehicles along with wood have started disappearing in the bush. These vehicles used in timber smuggling have been stranded for almost a decade and a half. About 330 vehicles, from Scorpio, Toyota Jeep to trucks, buses, motorcycles, which were seized while transporting wood illegally in Rautahat alone by Division and Sector Forest Office, are piled up in the bush.
This is the situation of the vehicles seized in timber smuggling in the forest offices of all the eight districts of Madhesh province . Due to lack of timely auction management, the recovered vehicles have started rotting under the open sky along with the wood. According to the Division Forest Offices, the vehicles seized while trying to illegally smuggle wood from the National Forest area are rotting due to the lack of a case from the court. Important parts including batteries of most vehicles have disappeared .
At various times, the vehicles used in timber smuggling have become unusable due to rotting. In the division forest office and the subordinate sector office, such tools are rotting and useless. 4 trucks, expensive jeeps, tractors have rotted and become unusable in the premises of the armed forest guard office of Division Forest Office, Rautahat. These vehicles, which have been stored for a decade and a half, are about to be buried in the bush. Similarly, vehicles including Scorpio, Safari Jeep and Tractor, Tatamobile have started rotting in front of the Forest Chief's residence.
Hemant Sah, head of Rautahat Division One, said that no process of auctioning has been started so far in the case of vehicles that are about to rot. "We have not initiated any process for the auction," he said, "We are discussing what to do." Kesharnath Aryal, Srestedar Deputy Secretary of Rautahat District Court Gaur, said that since he has just been transferred, he is understanding about the auction process of vehicles confiscated from forest theft smuggling. He said, 'Return, if not, the chiefs should find out how to increase the process.' He said that it may take time to make a decision because some cases have reached the highest level from the district and reached the Supreme Court. 
Some people arrested with wood have been released on bail. The forest offices say that no one has come to claim the vehicle in the case of the bereaved. According to Division One Rautahat, 4 trucks with illegal timber, 21 Scorpios, Safari Jeep, Toyota vehicle, Tatmobile Jeep, 8 tractors have been recovered from various places. A bus has also been seized with illegal wood loaded. Jamdar Rampukar Sah of the Forest Office said that 31 motorcycles and 3 e-rickshaws loaded with wood were seized. The forest workers say that most of the recovered tools are rotting because they are kept in the open. 4 trucks recovered from Dhansar area in the year 2064 are rotten and unusable. After the recovery of the vehicle, Forest had written to the Transport Office Birganj to trace the owner. According to the employee, it is difficult to find the rich as the trafficker uses the vehicle with up to 3 number plates. The forest office said that there was a problem after the engine, Chechis number and the number in the transport records were different.
In some cases, when smugglers drive vehicles with fake number plates, the forest office has problems in locating the vehicle owners. Most of the recovered vehicles have their vital parts removed. An employee of the forest office said that the battery was used by the employee in the inverter at the residence. The exterior of the vehicle is rusted and rotting.
Division One Dhanusha has said that the auction process of vehicles used in theft and smuggling has been started. Vinod Singh, head of Division Forest, said that if it is kept for a long time, it will become junk and rot, and they are going to auction it after taking an order from the court. "The process of auctioning all the vehicles that we have seized during timber theft has already started," he said, "We will publish information soon and collect revenue by auctioning." The process will proceed only after the technical evaluation of the vehicles seized by the forest office for auction.
Barama had auctioned some vehicles 7 years ago during the tenure of then Division One Chief Shiv Shankar Thakur. But when the auction was approved, the authorities arrested the auctioneer on the charge of accepting a bribe of 40,000. Then the said auction process was stopped in the middle . 46 vehicles like Tata pickups, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, tempos, scooters used in timber smuggling in Bara have been scrapped. The Division Forest Office Parsa has said that 63 pickup jeeps, tractors, motorcycles used in timber smuggling have been seized at various locations. All of them have not been auctioned.
The vehicles worth crores are rotting in the yard of the government office, which have not even been kept clear records for years, making the office ugly. Vehicles seized while being smuggled from community and government forests are being destroyed where they are kept. Stakeholders have been criticizing the government saying that it has lost crores of revenue. The forest and police teams assigned to control forest smuggling take control of wood and vehicles. The identity of only a few people involved in smuggling is revealed. Some are also under control. Due to the lack of a clear basis for managing smuggled wood and used vehicles, a large number of vehicles are rotting in the forest office premises in Madhesh province.
Division Forest Office Sarlahi has said that 49 vehicles including trucks, pickup jeeps, magic vans, motorcycles, e-rickshaws have been recovered from timber smuggling. Those vehicles have not been auctioned.
There is no data on how many old vehicles are piled up like this in Division One. The forest employees say that they could not find the record of which time and which issue some of the timber and vehicles belong to. Forest employees say that most of the cases in the case of wood and vehicles are not solved in time. This has caused the expensive vehicle to rot and become useless.
According to Siraha Division One, 21 vehicles including pickup jeeps, tractors, tippers, motorcycles, and excavators used in timber smuggling have been recovered. Not all of them have been auctioned. Excavators, which are expensive when auctioned at the time, bring billions of revenue to the government.
Division Forest Office Mahottari does not have data on old vehicles. In the financial year 2081/082, only one tractor and two motorcycles were provided for timber smuggling. The office said that it cannot provide data in the case of many old vehicles. Division Forest Office Saptari has seized 10 trucks used in timber smuggling on different dates. The truck was seized 7 years ago. According to the office, 13 vehicles including one mini tractor, one motorcycle, one tractor have been impounded in the forest office. Even though some vehicles have been auctioned, the office does not have the data of how many were auctioned.
Currently, decaying vehicles and wood are piled up in the forest and sector forest office of Madhesh province. Hundreds of vehicles including trucks, jeeps, buses, tractors, Scorpios, excavators, bicycles used to transport stolen wood are being destroyed. After taking control of the wood along with the vehicle, the forest will take the case to the process. Until the decision is made, the recovered goods remain under the control of the Forest Office. Correspondence to the transport office to reveal the identity of the vehicle . Then they file a case in court.
According to the forest office, although the owner of some vehicles is known, the involvement of the vehicle owner in smuggling is not seen. It has been found that the drivers of the vehicles used to carry the smuggled wood are misusing it . The forest staff said that rental trucks and jeeps were found involved in this.
There is no legal way to go through the auction process of vehicles used in timber smuggling . Laws relating to the sale of criminal assets by auction have paved the way for curbing such materials. A forest employee said that there is no coordination between the district administration and the division of forest on who will use the law. The State Forestry Ministry has also shown interest in proceeding with the auction process as soon as the vehicle rots and becomes unusable while waiting for the court.
State Forest Ministry Secretary Uddhav Ghimire said that he has instructed the division forest chiefs of all eight districts of Madhesh to proceed with the auction process of seized vehicles used in timber smuggling. Some vehicles have also been found abandoned. But in any case, if the auction can be done by taking the clearance order from the court for the auction process, then the government would get crores of revenue,'' he said, 'I have asked for the condition and data of the vehicles from all the districts . They will start the auction process soon.'
The number of vehicles seized in forest smuggling in Madhesh province :
truck, mini truck, bus, tipper : 17
Jeep, Van : 52
Tractor : 76
Excavator : 2
Bicycle : 561
Motorcycle, Auto : 119
Total : 827
Source: Division Forest Offices
