MANSEHRA, Feb 23: The provincial government's decision to allow the transit of millions of cubic feet of timber, cut illegally from forests in Kohistan district , has resulted in huge financial losses to the public exchequer and encouraged timber smugglers to exploit the situation, sources said on Monday.

The cabinet's decision to allow contractors to transport the illegally cut timber after the imposition of a fine of Rs 200 per cubic foot drew criticism from the forest owners of Hazara.

They said that illegal exploitation of the forest was an offence and those responsible for plundering the forest wealth should be put on trial under the Forest Act rules.

The forest owners alleged that the parties in the Muttahidda Majlis-i-Amal government had carved out this policy to benefit its blue-eyed boys, with whom, they claimed, some influential people in the government had struck a deal.

They alleged that under the provincial cabinet's decision, only 1.5 million cubic feet of illegally cut timber was to be transported, but the timber smugglers started cutting more trees to take full advantage of the opportunity.

The sources said that about 5 million cubic feet illegal timber was lying in Kohistan district, adding that the cutting of trees in the forests of Harban, Sazeen, Kandya, Jalkot, Saou and Pattan areas of Kohistan continued unabated.

The selling rate of timber in the markets of Islamabad and Punjab is Rs 1,800 per cubic feet, while in Karachi it is Rs 2,500 per cubic feet. The sources said that the timber smugglers purchased all this illegally exploited timber for Rs 300 per cubic feet after paying the government's fine of Rs 200 per cubic feet. In this way, the timber smugglers earned a net profit on each cubic foot of timber sold in Islamabad and Punjab and Karachi.

It is astonishing to note that where there has existed a ban on the cutting of trees in forests for the last 14 years, and even the forest owners are not allowed to cut trees for their own domestic needs, but the MMA government has allowed the transportation through NWFP of illegally-felled timber and caused billions of rupees loss to the exchequer.