Report by Kahnu Nanda; Jagatsinghpur: Acting on tip off directorate forest department vigilance wing raided a saw mill locates at Pankapala and seized logs about 250 cft worth Rs 6 Lakh from different varieties illegally stored inside the mill and seized its accessories and machineries were engaged for timber cutting on Friday afternoon.

The raid was led by Raj Kumar Swain deputy conservator forest [DCF] and Rajanikanta Mohanty vigilance ranger, Soubhgya Sahoo ranger Kujanga, forester Ranjan Kumar Mishra and sleuths of forest vigilance department. Department sources informed the alleged saw mill had been identified as Konark Saw mill functioning at Pankapal near Kujanga and public complaints were rife the mill had been cutting logs and timber at night in spite of its license had been ceased few years ago.

Meanwhile Supreme Court has banned operation of any saw mill nearest to 10 km forest region so the saw mill was violating the rules so we seized the mill and took possession of its accessories and logs and the owner of the mill Banamali Sahoo fled away after vigilance team landed in his mill campus, informed DCF Mr Swain.