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| The tipped truck and logs on the road in Alipurduar |
TT;Alipurduar, Aug. 31: A truck carrying illegally felled logs, while being chased by a foresters’ car, turned on its side on an Alipurduar road and huge chunks of wood rolled down and severely injured a woman.
Doctors in Alipurduar advised that the 50-year-old woman be taken to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.
According to forest sources, around 4am today, the truck loaded with illegally cut timber was crossing Bairaguri in Alipurduar, when forest staff with the BTR 9east) range officer, Dulal Dhar, were patrolling the area.
The forest staff asked the driver to stop the truck but he sped off.
The forest officials said when two of them tried to stop the vehicle, the truck tired to run over them.
The foresters then got into a jeep and started chasing the truck. For 15km from Bairaguri, the jeep tailed the speeding truck.
Near Cooch Behar district order, the truck driver lost control of the vehicle as he tried to avoid a lorry coming from the opposite direction. The truck fell on its side and as it tipped, the logs piled on it started rolling down.
Around 5am, 50-year-old Sumitra Barman, her daughters and grand daughters were plucking flowers on the roadside when they saw the accident. The logs were rolling towards them and Sumitra pushed the others out of the way.
But a couple of logs fell on her, the forest staff, who saw the accident from their jeep, said. She became unconscious. Her daughter Ratna suffered a minor leg injury.
The truck driver escaped.
When Sumitra came to, she was taken to Alipurduar hospital which said she should be taken to the North bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH).
At NBMCH, Sumitra got 10 stitches on the head.
Bhaskar J.V., the deputy field director Buxa Tiger Reserve (East), said:
“The value of the seized timber will be no less than Rs 2 lakh. We have got the name of the owner of the vehicle.”
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