Floating logs in Ravi stir buzz, officials say it's just driftwood, uprooted trees

SHIMLA: As viral videos showing a substantial quantity of wooden logs floating downstream in the Ravi River and accumulating around Sheetal Bridge in the Sarodi area of lower Chamba have triggered a social media storm, raising various speculations, the state forest department has claimed that these are mostly driftwood and uprooted trees resulting from cloudbursts and flash floods in the upper region."Most of these are driftwood and a few of them are uprooted trees due to the cloudburst in the area that came down floating in the water. A preliminary inquiry has found that it has nothing to do with the illegal felling of trees," said Sanjay Sood, principal chief conservator of forests and head of the state forest force.It has come to light that no sawn sleepers were detected by the preliminary inspection team in the area. This driftwood was uprooted and washed into the Ravi River because of the heavy cloudburst and flash flood that occurred from August 24 to 26 in the upper catchment areas of Chamba, resulting in extensive flooding and runoff. This uprooted and drifted wood has settled along the riverbanks and adjoining areas. These include Deodar, Tosh, Kail, Chil, Piak, and other species of broad-leaved trees.The forest department team in the area has collected accessible driftwood from the riverbanks to safeguard govt property from possible pilferage and unauthorised removal. Directions have also been issued to the field staff to ensure the systematic retrieval of the remaining driftwood as soon as the water level of the Ravi River recedes to a safe limit. Thereafter, the collected driftwood will be measured, properly accounted for, and the entire lot will be forwarded to the divisional manager of the Chamba division of the state forest development corporation for disposal.Similar viral videos of floating wood in the Pandoh Dam reservoir in Mandi district appeared earlier in June after the June 25 cloudbursts and flash floods in the Gadsa and Sainj Valley of Kullu district. The forest department then clarified that these were driftwood and forest fuel waste, with no link to the illicit felling of trees. Theog MLA Kuldeep Singh Rathore had then accused the state forest department officials of negligence and asked chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to hold an enquiry to fix accountability. However, vice chairman of the state forest development corporation, Kehar Singh Khachi, had accused Rathore of making irresponsible statements, claiming it was wrong to say that floating wood was linked to illegal felling of trees as it was driftwood and uprooted trees.