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Written by: Tahir Nadeem Khan Yusafzai

Category: ENVIRONMENT

Published: 23 May 2015

BHADERWAH: Despite continuous evangelism by media and Crack down by Forest department and Doda police on Forest Mafia and corrupt forest officials in Chinab Circle, there seems to be no end to the smuggling of green gold when Forest mafia is hell bent to continue the illegal activity at any cost as Forest department seized 200 cft (cubic feet) of green timber worth lakhs from Dandi block in Bhaderwah Forest Division. 

Forest department swung into action and recovered green Cedar scants hidden in a brick kiln after media reports of massive green felling and smuggling of timber on an alarming scale were divulged from compartments 54 to 66 of Dandi block of Bhaderwah Forest Division. A team of Forest officials led by Haroon Khan I/c Range Officer of Bhaderwah Forest Div along with FPF sleuths under the supervision of DFO Bhaderwah on a specific inputs make  raided in village Dandi and Chaka near compartment no.57 of Niru Range and seized 13 deodar scants 60.15 cft  from the possession of Mohd Shafi and Mohd Sarwar.

"The illegal timber was hidden in a local brick kiln and on search of the kilin the seizures were made, all the illicit Timber‬ has been taken into the custody by the Forest Department, Forest Department has gone offensive against the timber mafia in Bhaderwah Forest Div and is leaving no stone unturned in controlling the illicit damage to the Forest wealth, raids and checking have become order of the day through specific inputs, " said DFO Bhaderwah T B Singh adding that the environmentalists are also coming forward and sharing the information. More than 200 cft ‬ Deodar/Kail timber has been seized by the Forest Department officials in Bhaderwah Division alone from the timber mafia and cases have been registered against them for stringent action as per law.
  
It is pertinent to mention here that a whistle blower Ghulam Qadir resident of village upper Dandi was brutally attacked by Forest Mafia on 20th of May in presence of the investigating team of Territorial Forest officials and Forest Protection Force in the same compartment after he agreed to assist the investigating team to show the exact location of the losses allegedly done on the behest of Forester Dandi block.

Ghulam Qadir has lodged a complaint against Forester Shaifar Iqbal and another employee Akhter Hussian for looting green gold and facilitating timber smuggling on a large scale and also putting Forest land on sale in Dandi block of Bhaderwah Forest Division with Forest Minister and PCCF one month back.

Meanwhile DFO Bhaderwah contradicts the claims of Doda police of recovering more than 500 cft of green timber from Chirala villages extracted illegally and maintains that in most of the cases police is harassing poor Villagers unnecessarily as they have valid documents with them. " We at Bhaderwah Forest Division have sanctioned 54000 cft of timber during last year in favor of villagers for their bonafide use and not for smuggling," said T B Singh adding that it is literally impossible for Villagers of Zila Pani, Ghosti and Sheikh Pura of Chirala belt to smuggle the timber to the towns as it will take them more than 12 hours to reach the motorable road and villagers are claiming that they have got legal documents with them but still police has seized timber from their houses.

Social activist and environmentalist have demanded a judicial probe into the unabated green felling in Chinab Valley and stern action against the erring officials of Forest department who according to them have put both green trees and Forest land on sale for their petty interests.
 
" Some Forest officials have literally put both green Forest and Forest land on sale, as not only in Dandi block but also massive damages of green Cedar trees and unabated encroachment of Forest land has been reported from compartments 17 to 20 of Dugga block of Neeru Range of Bhaderwah Forest Division," said environmentalist Sachin Singh Sambyal adding that Forester and beat guards posted in Dugga block are leaving no stone unturned to loot the forest wealth with both hands but surprisingly higher ups instead of taking action against them have maintained a criminal silence despite repeated complaints by the villagers.