MANSEHRA: Residents of Upper Kohistan district have alleged timber smuggling saying the contractors chop down trees in Upper Kohistan’s forests before “smuggling” their wood to Gilgit-Baltistan and other areas through the Karakoram Highway in large quantities.

“The forest department issues permits to contractors through the community for cutting down trees but the latter go for excessive tree felling before smuggling the timber out of the district,” Ghulab Khan told Dawn on Wednesday.

Accompanied by a group of locals, he said deforestation and timber smuggling were on the rise in Upper Kohistan.

The resident said though the police seized such timber during the checking of oil tankers and trucks carrying scrap at the district’s exit points, the forest department had yet to do its duty of checking that smuggling.

Insist contactors flouting tree felling permits

Another resident demanded of the forest department to ensure strict compliance by contractors with tree felling permits.

He said the department allowed contractors to cut down trees on a limited scale but the latter largely didn’t follow permit conditions leading to the excessive tree felling and timber smuggling.

The resident claimed that the wood was smuggled out of the district through the KKH mostly at night.

When contacted, Haroon Khan, head of the accounts branch of the local forest department, said the department received 20 per cent of the income generated by lawful timber sale, while the rest of money went to the community as forest owners.

“When the community is the rightful forest owner, the chances of timber smuggling are very small,” he said.

Mr Khan said the government recently announced the Green Marking Scheme under which the trees, which were old or prevented sunlight from reaching saplings, would be cut down and transported to markets for sale.

He insisted that officials of his department never harboured timber smugglers as timber was transported to districts and even provinces.

“Police check timber smuggling at their checkposts in our district and other parts of the country,” he said.

KILLED: A ninth grader was killed after falling from a roof in Oghi area here on Wednesday.

The 16-year-old, Abdullah, 16, was doing repair work on the rooftop of his house when he slipped and fell to the ground.

The family shifted him to a nearby health centre with critical injuries, but the doctors declared him dead.

Meanwhile, a man was seriously injured after he crashed the motorcycle he rode into a roadside walkway in Dadar area here.

The road users shifted him to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital but doctors referred him to the Ayub Medical Complex Abbottabad, where his condition was stated to be out of danger.

Also in the day, a seven-year-old boy was injured after a wall of his house collapsed on him in Shahlia area here.

The people recovered him from under the rubble and took him to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him safe.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2023