Burhanpur (Madhya Pradesh): A team of forest department officials from Burhanpur seized six quintals of banned Salai gum from a house in Mominpura area at around 11 am on Sunday. The gum trader Abdul Latif however claimed to have its licence. Latif claimed that his godown is being built in Sirpur, so he had stored the gum at home. Meanwhile, the team led by ranger SL Solanki seized the gum and prepared a panchnama. It may be noted that the extraction of the gum is prohibited under bio-legality act.
The gum is allowed to be extracted only by those traders who are issued licence by the department as per rules, but in many parts of the district, Salai gum is extracted without permission. However, the trader who was raided here showed licence of the Forest Department which is valid till December 31, 2024. Ranger SL Solanki says that he is now investigating the case by preparing a panchnama. The situation will be clear after investigation.
Ex-DFO issued permission Abdul Latif, proprietor of M/s AK Traders, a resident of Zakir Hussain Ward Mominpura had the permission letter to extract Salai gum which was issued by former DFO Pradeep Mishra on January 27. The permission is valid till December 31, 2024. Abdul Latif has been allowed to extract 40k kilogram of Salai gum and 1k kilogram of Dhavda gum in the letter. Since the permission was issued by the former DFO Pradeep Mishra at the time of his transfer, Khandwa CCF RP Rai had reached Burhanpur to investigate the matter. However, the DFO had made it clear then that the permission was been issued as per rules.
