November 12, 2001	Monday	Shaba’an 25, 1422

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ABBATTABAD, Nov 11: Federal minister for local bodies and overseas Pakistanis, Omar Asghar Khan, has said that the cabinet will soon decide whether to keep a ban on felling of trees lifted.

Speaking as chief guest at the two-day workshop organized by the Sungi Development Foundation and Sarhad Awami Forestry Ittehad here, he said the government was waiting for reports from provinces and after analyzing the progress made during the period without ban, the cabinet will take a decision in this regard.

Omar Khan said efforts were being made for easy availability of loans to owners of trees.

Other speakers discussed the joint forest management societies with reference to the proposed forest policy legislation.

They supported legal cover for the proposed societies and emphasized the need for equal treatment to all the stake holders in the forest sector.

They demanded that the process for registering the societies should be made easy and speedy and adequate credit facilities should be extended to forest owners to save the system from timber mafia and contractors.

Some speakers proposed cut in taxes on timber saying that owner of a forest had to pay at least 60 to 70 per cent income as taxes.

It was proposed that a forest development fund be established, with contribution of Rs4 to Rs6 per cubic foot by the owners, to combat deforestation.