The Burmese military junta has granted permission to each logging company in the country's northern Kachin State to fell over 100,000 tons of timber except teak every year, said local officers of the Forest Department.
In reality, both hardwood and teak from forests are Kachin State is mainly transported to neighbouring China through the two countries' border in Kachin State and Rangoon, former capital of the country for export, said local timber companies' sources.
Timber is accumulated beside the train station in Mayan Village in Kachin State, which is jointly owned by Rangoon-based retired army officers and retired officers of Forest Department.
Timber is accumulated beside the train station in Mayan Village in Kachin State, which is jointly owned by Rangoon-based retired army officers and retired officers of Forest Department.
U Tet Zin, the head of a timber camp near Train Station in Mayan Village between Myitkyina-Mandalay railways said, "We can log unlimited timber. However the military authorities have officially allowed us 5,000 tons of timber in a year."
He added that the hardwood accumulated in the timber camp in Mayan is jointly owned by the regime's retired generals in Rangoon and retired officers of the Forest Department.
The trees were felled in the forests along the ascent of Loili River also called Loili Hka in Kachin and Gwi Marit Bum (Gwi Marit Mountain) near Mayan village. The forests have been preserved by generations after generations, said elder Kachin villagers of Mayan who are very upset with the rampant logging in their preserved forests.
Because the logs are stored at the centre of village, near the railway station in this monsoon, Mayan villagers are being forced to live with the bad smell from the rotting tree skins, said villagers.
Whenever the village headmen requested moving the timber camp to another place, the log company has refused, added villagers.
At the moment, there are several timber camps based along the stations between Myitkyina and Mandalay--- Mayan, Nammar, Kyauk Gyi and Namti, said local timber company sources.
Among them, Myat Noo Tu Company in Nammar station and Kyauk Gyi station has timber camps of the Htun Mya Taung Company, Htoo Company and Dagon Company, said eyewitnesses.
All these companies transport timber to Rangoon only by trains and ships along Irrawaddy River for export, said local sources.
A KIO official in Myitkyina Relation Office told KNG, "Actually, the source of those timber were protected areas of KIO in the past. We would like to collect tax from it but the KIO does not give permission."
Since 1994, when the main Kachin armed group Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) signed a ceasefire agreement with the regime, the timber from Kachin forests have been rampantly cut down for export.
