Opposition members in the Assembly today alleged apathetic attitude of the State Government towards protecting forest and wildlife. This has been resulting in disturbing consequences in the form of loss of forest cover and dwindling populations of animals, besides intensifying man-animal conflict, they said. Dr Monoranjan Das (AGP), while initiating the debate on the cut motions on the demand for grant of Rs 20,865.52 lakh for the Forest Department in the State Assembly today, demanded a CBI inquiry into the cases of destruction of forest resources. He said that depletion of the forest cover and the incidents of poaching of the wild animals had smeared the image of the State. Moreover, illegal timber felling by the smugglers has been adding to the problems of rise in the riverbeds and man-animal conflict. But the Government is conspicuous by its indifference towards tackling such menaces. While illegally procured timber is being transported from the forest areas to various places with the police remaining a mute spectator, most of the forest officers are lacking in their commitment to their assigned responsibilities, he said. On the other hand, unabated encroachment on the forestland is also adding to the problem of poaching in the reserved forests and National Parks, he said, adding, the Government can go for settling the landless people in the fringe areas of the these forests to bring an end to all such nefarious activities. Asserting that the Forest Department's performance had been below the desired levels, JP Das (AGP) said that the proposed forest protection force would be a farcical exercise unless it was equipped with the necessary equipment and infrastructure. Das said that huge quantity of seized logs often remained where they were, as the department did not have the dragging charge necessary for moving the timber. "This is resulting in wastage of forest resources and loss of revenue,' he said, adding that the department had been losing a sizeable royalty accruing from different forest produce, as it did not streamline the system. Drawing the attention of the House to the photo of an injured (by gunshot) wild elephant splashed in the media, Das wanted to know what the Forest Department had done to trace and treat the elephant. Uddhab Barman (CPM) said that successive Forest Reports had laid bare the dense forest cover loss of Assam, which was having disturbing consequences for the State's environmental and socio-economic fronts. The issue of agar wood business saw an exchange of words between Sirajuddin Ajmal (AUDF) and State Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain, with Ajmal ending his speech abruptly saying that he was "totally upset' with interruptions made by the latter in his speech. While Ajmal was accusing the Forest Department of showing an uncalled-for jest in seizing