Georgia: The employees of the Environmental Supervision Department of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture, in their unwavering commitment to the fight against illegal forest use, have detected 4 illegal saws in Ajara and Samegrelo.
It should be noted that illegal saw mining has been already sealed in Georgia. A ribbon-type saw was installed in the yard of a citizen’s residence, in the auxiliary garbage bin. The saw was placed on the territory of Saamkro, a firewood type, and 3 units of round wood, which is a significant amount, were illegally obtained.
When that citizen found that ribbon-type saw in his yard, he immediately informed the Environment Protection Department of the country. The environment department sealed the unregistered ribbon-type saw set up, in the mine yard in the village Takidze of Shuakhevi municipality.
In the village of Shushaneti of Khelvachauri municipality, a citizen set up an unregistered ribbon-type saw in a mine house. The employees of the Department of Environmental Supervision discovered 1 illegal saw in the minerals.
In Ergeta village of Zugdidi municipality, a citizen had installed an unregistered circular saw equipment in the yard of his residence. The illegal saw was placed in Saamkro, illegally obtained 9 units of different types of round wood (seal).
Due to the comprehensive nature of the investigation and the presence of signs of criminal offenses in all three cases, materials were sent to the appropriate authorities for further response.
The Ministry of Environment Protection’s representative during the media briefing said that this is not the first time rather many such drives have been launched against illegal saws. They also revealed that this drive against the anti-social elements who are destroying natural resources will continue in the future as well.
The illegal saws operating throughout many regions without proper government sanction pose a major threat to agencies responsible for preventing this criminal act. The large-scale destruction of forest products causes many problems.
It is to be added that the crews of the Department of Environmental Supervision carry out continuous 24-hour patrolling throughout the country to prevent, detect, and suppress the facts of illegal forest use, hunting, fishing, and other environmental violations promptly. In addition, immediate response is given to each message received on the hotline (153) of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture.
