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| December 20, 2002 | Friday | Shawwal 15, 1423 |
Timber smuggling on the rise
MANSEHRA, Dec 19: The illegal cutting of trees in the forest of Allai in Batgram district and in the tribal belt of Kala Dhaka of Mansehra district continues unabated which has caused a big threat to the area of environmental hazards, besides heavy silting in the Tarbela lake due to massive mud slides in the mountains.
The smuggling of timber from these areas through Tarbela lake is also causing loss of millions of rupees to the government exchequer every month.
It is learnt that the activities of the timber smugglers in the thick forest of Mansehra and Batgram districts alongside the river Indus are on the rise and the smugglers in the mountains of Allai tehsil are busy in large scale cutting of trees.
The sources informed that the smugglers in Haripur have contacts with the smugglers in Allai and Kala Dhaka who collect timber at different points on Chappar road and affix fake stamps on the timber in collusion with the officials of the forest and police departments.
The sources revealed that after affixing fake stamps, the timber is loaded in the trucks on Chappar road and is smuggled to Gujranwala, Lahore and Sialkot in Punjab and to Karachi and other areas of Sindh.
It is also learnt that the timber dealers in Punjab and Sindh have contacts on mobile phones with the smugglers’ gangs in Haripur and they demand the supply of required size of timber from the smugglers to meet their market needs.
The sources said that about one dozen truckload of illegal timber, collected on Chappar road is smuggled to Punjab and Sindh everyday which causes loss of millions of rupees to the government revenue every month.
The large scale cutting of trees in Allai and Kala Dhaka has not only caused the environmental hazards to the area but the rapid deforestation has made the mountains more shaky and fragile.
The mud slides, especially in Kala Dhaka area are causing heavy silting in Tarbela lake, posing a major threat to the life of Tarbela dam.
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