A press conference on the course of “Yel” operational-preventive event was held at the Tatar-inform News Agency
Today, a press conference was held at the Tatar-inform News Agency dedicated to the course of the “Yel” operational-preventive event in 2019. Airat Akhmerov, the Head of the State Control and Supervision Department of the Ministry, and Ilnur Kashafeyev, Head-Forester of the State Public Institution of the Republic of Tatarstan “Prigorodnyi Forest District”, spoke about the first results.
“In order to ensure the safety of coniferous young stands in the New Year’s period and to take the necessary measures to strengthen their protection against illegal logging in the Republic of Tatarstan, the “Yel” interdepartmental operational and preventive event is held annually. In 2019, it started on December 20 and will last until December 31”, said Airat Akhmerov.
As part of “Yel” Operation, 37 stationary posts and 126 mobile patrol groups from among forest districts and territorial departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Republic of Tatarstan were created. “There is also an outreach to the media. Since the beginning of the operation, 192 raid inspections have been carried out; today 8 forest violations have been identified on the territory of the forest fund of the Bolgarskiy, Buinskiy, Elabuzhskiy, Kaleikinskiy, Menzelinskiy, Sabinskiy and Tetyushskiy forest districts”, said Airat Akhmerov. - These are 6 facts of illegal cutting of forest stands and 2 cases of picking coniferous paws. Concerning the guilty persons, cases of administrative offenses have been initiated. The total damage caused to the forest fund is estimated at 9.1 thousand rubles”.
He recalled that illegal logging, damage to forest stands entails the imposition of an administrative fine on citizens in the amount of from 3 to 4 thousand rubles, on officials - from 20 to 40 thousand rubles, on legal entities - from 200 to 300 thousand rubles. In addition, the person who has committed illegal logging will have to compensate for damage caused to forests, which depends on the species of the felled tree and its place of growth, and the category of forest protection.
Airat Akhmerov also said that this year the Ministry placed 31 lots of forest plantations in the amount of 11,362 pcs and 36.5 tons of coniferous paws for the electronic auction for the right to conclude a contract of sale of forest plantations for harvesting spruce and (or) trees of other coniferous species for the New Year holidays. “The harvesting of firs is carried out as necessary. They can be purchased at forestry enterprises or at official bazaars. As of December 30, about 4 thousand firs were sold, he said. - In general, in 2019 fir trees were put up for auction and sold less by 19% compared with the previous year.
After that, representatives of the Ministry answered journalists’ questions, in particular, on the procedure for compensation for damage caused to the forest fund, the work of official Christmas tree markets, etc.