PESHAWAR: After the detection of ghost schools in parts of the country, ‘ghost forests’ have been found in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where huge amounts of money are claimed for bogus plantation and the subsequent maintenance.

Official sources told Dawn on Wednesday that block plantations had been shown in documents that ate up funds on maintenance and watering of the ghost plants in the region.

They said senior officials in Peshawar could not carry out monitoring and evaluation of plantation schemes in the militancy-affected areas on account of law and order situation, which led to massive irregularities.

They said ‘ghost forests’ had been detected in the militancy-hit North Waziristan, South Waziristan, Khyber and Mohmand agencies and some areas of Frontier Regions.

Until now, the relevant authorities have ordered one inquiry in ‘Non Timber Forest Product in Fata’.

It is learnt that block plantation and regular maintenance work had been shown in documents, but it could not be found on ground after physical verification in many areas.

An official concerned said ‘ghost forests’ had been mostly detected in the troubled areas and that funds had been regularly released from the annual development programme.

He said officials of the forests department in tribal agencies had shown huge spending on account of using tankers for watering plants, but plantation did not exist.

Conservator (forests) of Fata Sher Nawaz said plantation existed but maintenance work, including watering of plants, had not been done, despite release of money.

Sher Nawaz, who took charge of his office around five months ago, admitted irregularities in the Fata forests directorate but left the matter to the ‘Almighty Allah.’

“The directorate has taken certain measures to block holes and stop irregularities,” he claimed, adding that strict monetary discipline was now showing trickle down effects in the forestry sector in the tribal areas,” he said.

The official said verification and probing irregularities would be very difficult for the government at this moment.

The government spends huge amount of money on forestation in Fata every year.

In the annual development programme for the fiscal 2013-14, the government has allocated Rs669.929 million for forests, including non-timber forest products and conservation of the wildlife in Fata.

According to official documents, forests covered area is 0.53 million hectors, making 19.5 per cent of the total Fata area.

Conservator Sher Nawaz said the directorate of forests had restructured schedule rates, which led to the saving of a huge sum of money, while more reforms in the forestry sector were in pipeline.

He said the cost of forestation on one acre of land had come down from Rs43,000 to Rs30,000, while the daily wage of labour working there had gone up from Rs200 to Rs400 due to the directorate’s efforts.

“Due to the financial discipline, the contract employees who were to be relieved from service in one year have been hired for three years now,” he said.