The local operations of Indian logging company Vaitarna remain functional, despite the closure of its sister company, Dark Forest Furniture Company.
Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) Corporate Secretary Jacy Archibald told Stabroek News yesterday that there has been no indication from the company of any changes in its operations.
Archibald, however, explained that that the commission is currently making checks with the company on the status of its operations.
He noted that by law companies that are granted forestry concessions and are operating are obligated to inform of the GFC of any changes in their operational structure.
“They are required to provide us with a report at the start of the year but if any changes occur during the year they have to bring it to our attention. It is their obligation to do so,” Archibald said.
He also pointed out that the company has been harvesting and exporting timber for the past year.
When Stabroek News visited the company’s office in Queenstown yesterday, a guard, after speaking with a secretary, said they could not reveal any information about the future of the operations here. The guard also noted that the General Manager, Chethan Narayan, was out of the country.
The closure of the sister company comes months its owner V G Siddhartha died in an apparent suicide
Dark Forest Furniture Company, located in the state of Karnataka, shut down suddenly on Monday. The Hindu newspaper reported that “after the tragic demise of Mr. Siddhartha, the company faced financial constraints.” Though efforts were made to revive the business, they did not yield much result, it said, while noting that the company was going through an acute financial crisis due to lack of orders. It also said it was firing all its employees with immediate effect.
Set up in February 2010, Dark Forest Furniture Company was emerging as one of the country’s largest integrated wood processing plants with ultra-modern and automated production lines and state-of-the art machinery.
The report noted that Dark Forest Furniture Company had designed and developed hardwood furniture for all Cafe Coffee Day (CCD) outlets, the CCD Group’s hospitality venture Serai properties and other clients.
Siddhartha planned to build his furniture business into the country’s largest designer furniture outfit, the report said, citing the Guyana connection. The report said that the idea was to transport cut logs on chartered ships from Georgetown, to the New Mangalore Port and then to the Chikkamagaluru facility. Under this agreement, Dark Forest Furniture Company was planning to bring hardwood varieties, such as Greenheart, Purpleheart, Wallaba and Bullet Wood, to India. Over the years of its existence here, Vaitarna had been accused of exporting logs without engaging in value-added forestry as had been promised.
Siddhartha had said in 2012 that a processing centre for logs would be set up here but the main facility would be in India.
There had been concern about the company’s failure to fulfill promised value-added production but up to last year, the Ministry of Natural Resources said it was satisfied that VHPI had started “value added initiatives.” It had also said that the company was looking to ramp up lumber production. It is unclear whether this occurred.
