KARACHI, Oct 14: Three trucks carrying reti bajri from the Khirthar National Park were caught by the Sindh Wildlife Department’s raid party on Friday afternoon and a fine was imposed on, and recovered from, the owners.
The raid party chief, Rasheed Ahmad, said that the trucks, which were filled with reti bajri being extracted from the Khar River in the national park, were spotted near the Khar Wildlife Research Centre and after a chase were caught near the check post.
The trucks were brought to the department’s head office and a fine of Rs25,000 was imposed on each of them. Truck owners — Khan Mohammad (truck No TKC 778), Atta Khan (TKG 405) and Haji Mohammad (LSB 8658) – paid the fine after which the trucks along with the reti bajri were released.
He said that three other trucks were also caught a couple of days back and their owners – Ahsanuddin (TKE 49), Azam Khan (TKA 791) and Rehmanullah (LSC 2123) – paid fines of Rs40,000 each, after which the trucks were released.
Extraction of reti bajri from the Khirthar National Park is banned under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Act, however, according to sources; the illegal activity goes either with the connivance or negligence of the wildlife staff, which was proved that six trucks have been caught within a few days.
The reti and bajri from the Khar and the Malir rivers have been extracted so much that the water table in the wells in the vicinity had gone down severely affecting survival of the surrounding villagers whose entire economy depended on agriculture that was seriously affected due to water shortage.
