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| Villagers nab timber smugglers, police fails to act | | |  Early Times Report
Budgam, Dec 10: During the intervening night of 8th and 9th December as many as five timber smugglers along with smuggled timber loaded on six horses were caught red handed by some villagers of Branwar in Doodh Ganga forest range of Budgam but the said smugglers are yet to be arrested by the Police and Forest officials.
Details available with Early Times reveal that some whistleblowers of Branwar village laid a trap deep inside the forests of Branwar near Yusmarg during the intervening night of December 8 and 9 . During this trap the villagers caught five smugglers along with timber which was cut down inside the forests of Doodh Ganga range in Chazkan Naad area.
"We alerted the DFO of Budgam who send a team of Forest officials during the dead of night. The timber was seized by these officials but the main accused are yet to be arrested " said Fayaz Ahmad (name changed) one of the whistleblower
Pertinent to mention that this issue was highlighted on the social networking sit facebook and Education Minister Naeem Akhtar himself commented on the post and said he has spoken to Forest Minister , but inspite of 4 days , the accused are yet to be arrested. The Forest officer against whom action was initiated as per sources is now seeking undue help from Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjoora through some PDP senior workers of the area. Hanjoora is the local MLA of Charar e Sharief & Agriculture Minister as well.
The continuous hartals , protests and curfews from last several months has not only economically weakened people of Kashmir , but this has caused severe damage to the forest wealth across various districts of valley. The ongoing unrest is leading to chaos , plunder and loot of forest wealth across valley. It is reported that jobless people especially the labourers are now switching on to timber smuggling to feed their families
Timber smugglers who had switched on to other jobs after Forest and Police department used stringent methods of curbing timber smuggling have now again been activated. Sources say that green trees inside jungles of Bandipora , Kupwara and Budgam are being felled at an alarming rate and if this illegal practice is not stopped , many compartments in these districts will have not a single pinus tree left after few weeks. Reports say that most of the people involved in timber cutting are jobless labourers who returned to their native villages from Srinagar because of unrest.
As per reports a person from Batwodder Surasyaar Chadoora died after he was cutting down a tree inside the Ringawari forest area of Yusmarg on Saturday.
As per authentic sources forest trees especially Deodar, Kairoo and Budloo are being chopped off by timber smugglers in different areas of Badipora and Budgam at al alarming rate . Reports say that forest areas in Raithan , Arizal and Doodh Ganga forest ranges are being damaged by habitual timber smugglers and many locals. During 2008 and 2010 agitation similar loot of forests was going on in Budgam district. Some vested interested people had taken undue advantage of the unrest during 2008 and 2010 and these people are again active nowadays. Local residents have demanded that accused should be booked under Public Safety Act….
"Smugglers after cutting down trees inside forest set the trunk on fire so that it would look like an old tree damaged years back. During this burning of tree trunks many smaller trees also get affected and this causes huge forest fires " said Nazir Ahmad another local resident of Branwar. A team of forest officials lead by ACF and local villagers visited the damaged areas of Doogh Ganga range on Friday and submitted report to the Conservator of Forest Central Kashmir range Javaid Andrabi It is alleged that village Forest Protection Committee of Branwar forest block lead by Numberdar Saifudin Chowdhry is in hand and glove with the timber smugglers and some corrupt forest officials. Saifudind's son Yasir Chowdhry had tried his best to get the seized timber back from whistle-bowers when it was seized on Dec 8th , but the locals chased him away in Jabbad village .Locals resident have demanded that Numberdar should be relieved from such a village forest committee. |
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