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| Timber smugglers make hay as officials sleep in Karnah | | | Syed Tahir Bukhari
Early Times Report
KUPWARA, Jan 21: The wanton loot of forests goes on unabated in Karnah thesil of Kupwara district in North Kashmir. Timber smugglers have chopped off scores of green trees in the past week and dumped them under ground in the form of logs. According to sources that, Scores of green trees were lying on the ground after being chopped off while as forest department has not taken any action against timber smugglers nor they have ordered any sort of inquiry into the matter. "Smugglers had dumped large quantity of forest timber in Karnah thesil of Kupwara district, we had informed forest officials but it seems that they are not being held responsible for deforestation and timber smugglers are roaming freely in an area, sources said. In past police had raided many places and seized plenty of forest timber that was dumped illegally by smugglers, sources added. On anonymity conditions a local resident of Chatgarhi told Early Times that, we were surprised to see scores of green trees lying on the ground in Karnah thesil. Smugglers had chopped off these trees surely for the purpose of smuggling, and accordingly we informed the employees of Forest department. Another local resident said that, day in and out these timber smugglers are cutting trees. Due to callous attitude of forest department, it seems that the forest officials are hand in glove with smugglers. Smugglers chop off these trees during day time and transport it in night on horse backs and carts to other nearby areas of Kupwara Township to sell it to band saw mills owners, local alleged. Local said that, "taking advantage of situation during rainy days or of snow in hilly areas, the felling of trees and smuggling of timber is increasing enormously day by day. A group of locals said that, "especially during winter, dozens of trees were cut by smugglers and ferried in trucks and tractors from the area. We have never seen such type smuggling from last three to four years. Due to threat perception locals don't want to be named, pointing towards stretch of burnt stumps, a local wishing anonymity said that forest officials deliberately set them on fire to conceal their misdeeds. They set them ablaze to hide their misdeeds, but these partially burnt stumps expose them," he said. DFO Kahmal Karnah Noorul Amin told Early Times that, "the area you are referring to doesn't have any kind of forests, but I assure you that forests are very safe there and people go on saying anything. If there is anything like that, let the people come and complaint about timber smuggling we will take an action against them, official said. "The Crop is mostly oak and there is no deodar and kaair, it is a timber which goes from other side for construction, and more I will verify it, DFO added. |
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