GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan Council has notified last amnesty scheme for the disposal of both the legally and illegally-cut timber in Diamer district within a year.

In this regard, the council’s Islamabad secretariat sent a letter to GB chief secretary on Thursday, directing him to ensure disposal of felled timber in Diamer district in 12 months.

The letter a copy of which is available with Dawn informed GB chief secretary that formulation of policies for the disposal of illegally-cut timber of private forests in Diamer district should be discontinued in future, as the timber disposal policies had failed to stop the pace of illegal cutting of forests.

The letter mentioned that this would be the last amnesty scheme and in future all illegally-cut timber would be confiscated by the GB forest department and the timber would be auctioned within three months.

The letter said the GB Council during its 11th session held on Oct 25 in Skardu under the chairmanship of Chairman GB Council, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, had approved the transportation of legally and illegally-cut timber from Diamer to other parts of the country as per mechanism formulated on the payment of all usual taxes and fines on illegal timber.

The letter said the government allowed disposal of the leftover legal timber measuring 0.967 million cubic feet subject to verification on case to case basis within 12 months.

The illegally-cut timber measuring 1.802 million cubic feet is allowed to be released only after imposing fine as per formulated rates and to be disposed of within 12 months, the letter said.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2017