GALSI (Burdwan), July 24: Indiscriminate felling of trees along the Damodar riverbank has caused extensive erosion in certain villages in Galsi block in Burdwan in the last week. More than a thousand bighas of cultivable land have been washed away and hundreds of houses along the riverbank are under severe threat of being wiped out. However, the divisional forest authority has made it clear that no permission for tree felling was granted to any individual or a group in the area. The Damodar river has been swelling aggressively for the last week due to fresh discharge by the Durgapur barrage followed by the torrential rains in the catchment areas in the last four days. The erosion troubles multiplied due to felling of more than 200 giant mango and Kanthal trees allegedly by an organised group of wood smugglers. Villages such as Satyanandapur in Bhunri panchayat area and Gaitanpur in Baikunthapur panchayat area are the worst hit by the menace. The riverbank along these two villages developed horizontal cracks across a 2 km stretch. Mr Tarak Middya, owner of more than 200 Kanthal and mango trees along the riverbank in Satyanandapur alleged: "Goons felled more than one hundred of my trees and the group belongs to the Galsi area itself. Though we had informed the police on time, no one could be arrested as yet.' Mr Nipun Mondal, owner of a tree farm in Gaitanpur said: "More than 30 trees from my land have been felled. This caused immediate crack on the riverbank. We are helpless. The river is now posing a severe threat to our homes.' The local panchayat member from BJP, Mrs Anita Das alleged: "We have told the block administration but no one has come to our rescue as yet. We are helpless.' The SDO, Burdwan, Mr Sagar Sinha said: "We haven't received any information about erosion from the block office as yet.' The state irrigation department had spent Rs 76 lakh in 2006 to prepare a 800-metre hard-rock embankment along the Kalimohanpur stretch where the riverbank used to collapse from time to time. Now the erosion has shifted towards the east direction, causing damage to the Baikunthapur and Bhunri panchayat areas. The forest department has stated that the owners of the respective plots where felling has occurred would have to face legal consequences. The DFO, Burdwan, Mr Kalyan Kumar Ghosh said: "We didn't grant any tree felling permission. So the land owners would be held primarily responsible ifor it.'