October 14, 2006	Saturday	Ramazan 20, 1427

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JHANG, Oct 13: The unlawful uprooting of costly trees from the embankments of the Lower Jhelum Canal and its distributaries is causing host of problems. The provincial forest department officials are allegedly chopping off trees in quick succession and selling them to the local population and timber merchants, causing huge loss to the government kitty.

It is also causing canal breaches owing to erosion which results in wastage of water needed for the crops.

The Lower Jhelum Canal originates from Rasul headworks and enters Jhang district at Ramdana canal rest house which is not far from Sillanwali Town. It caters for the irrigation needs of Mandi Bahauddin and Sargodha districts.

The total length of the main canal and its distributors in Jhang district is approximately 150 kilometres.

As soon as the irrigation system was introduced in early 19th century, millions of saplings, particularly those of Shisham and kikar, were planted along side the canal and its distributaries and minors spreading over hundreds of kilometers.

The saplings grew up into trees with the passage of time and fetched huge revenues to the irrigation department under whose jurisdiction they were at that time, besides being a source of keeping the surroundings pleasant.

There used to be cases of theft and unauthorised cutting of trees in the good old days but they were negligible as the wrongdoers were immediately brought to book.

But after the switch over from irrigation department to the provincial forests department a few years ago, incidents of illegal tree cutting have assumed alarming proportions thanks to the apathy of the officials.

Amanullah Awan, a resident of Muradwala village, said hundreds of trees had been sold to the local villagers by the forest department employees. Some of the trees, he said, were more than 60 years old and had been sold at nominal price.

He said he had informed Divisional Forest Officer Tariq Iqbal Kathia who asked forester Bashir Ahmad to hold an inquiry into the matter.

It is learnt that Bashir Ahmad had paid just one visit to the site when he was transferred by the conservator.

This correspondent made repeated attempts to contact forest officer Iqbal Kathia but he did not respond.