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| Amid vehement claims, timber mafia ruling roost in valley forests | | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Oct 21: Despite making tall claims, alleged illegal deforestation by timber mafia has caused extensive damage to forest wealth in Pir Panjal division from Khan Sahib to Gulmarg and its adjoining areas during the past many decades.
Sources said that deforestation is going on despite heavy presence of personnel of Force Protection Force (FPF). They added that large number of stumps of chopped off trees in compartment numbers 30, 31, 32 and 33 which fall in forest range of tehsils viz. Beerwah and Khag of Budgam district and Tangmarg of district Baramulla indicating that these trees have been cut recently.
Sources further added that dense forests of the three tehsils rich in deodar, pine and fir have fast turned bald. They said that areas which have suffered extensive damage include Suygen, Shanglipora, Lassipora, Chittahag, Dreng, Seelatharan, Sotlipathri, Zogukharaya, Raengezabal, Arizal, Rayiyar Yech, Khag Nagbal, Lawaypora, Poshkar, Aharbal, Hamchipora, Nowgam, Shukleyan, Dudoora, Gogaldara and Gulmarg.
Sources asserted that forest range in peripheral areas of Beerwah, Khag and Tangmarg has almost been wiped off and most of these places are just three to four kilometers away from the forest cover. Interestingly, a headquarter of FPF manning a staff of as many as around 150 cadres, created with the sole motive to check the forest felling and smuggling, is stationed at Arizal, one of the most affected areas which witnessed mass-scale devastation of the forests.
Trees are felled with the help of forest officials, who are not only hand-in-glove with the timber smugglers but the share of this loot is shared by forest officials, added sources. Official sources said that around 60 to 70 percent of the smugglers are locals who are landless and too poor to look for alternative means of livelihood.
Sources said that smugglers prefer to fell the trees during night and the timber is carried on horse-backs stealthily for sale in other districts particularly to Srinagar city. They added that trees are felled each night and the safe passage of the smuggled timber from Budgam has been possible due to good road connectivity and comparatively smoother terrains.
Even if the forest officials sometimes seize the smuggled timber and horses, the smugglers manage to get them back via third person when the same are being auctioned by the Forest department, said an official. He added that smuggling of forest timber is going on despite heavy presence of security camps from Hamchipora-Gogaldara and round-the-clock patrolling of security forces during night.
To check menace of forest smuggling and preserve the green gold from further damage, PSA needs to be stringently implemented in letter and spirit, an official. Environmentalists believe that the massive deforestation in the past has posed serious threat to biodiversity of J&K.
Officials assert that 40 percent of forest cover in J&K will vanish in the next 20 years if trees are felled in the same manner as has happened in the past. This can be detrimental to our tourism sector as deforestation which has taken place in some areas like Khag, Poshkar and Chittahag which have been recently brought on tourist map, they maintained.
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