MURREE, Jan 11: The cutting down of trees and unplanned construction has marred the beauty of Murree owing to the apathy of the authorities concerned.

Illegal constructions continue under the eyes of the local administration despite a ban on it. Blasting of rocks coupled with felling of trees and setting forests on fire are some of the other activities that have spoiled the ecosystem of Murree.

More than 350 hotels have been built only in Murree city, out of which 75 per cent did not have an approved site plan, which was violation of the construction by-laws.

Under the by-laws, a constructor is bound to start construction 20 feet away from the road, but this is openly violated.

Due to such construction, visitors have difficulty in parking their vehicles. They, therefore, have to use paid parking for which they are charged heavily. But, there too, their vehicles are not secure.

Many hotels and buildings have been constructed on the Nullahs and bridges over the sewerage system. Buildings can also be seen on the roads heading towards Nathia Gali and Bhurban.

As far as the timber mafia are concerned, they are having a heyday as officials of the forest department are not taking any action against them. Cutting down of trees is also related to construction as the timber mafia sell wood either to constructors.

According to residents of the area, some people were operating saw machines in their houses with the connivance of the forest department officials. In recent years, due to dry spell and fire in the forest, some trees were affected by virus. On this, the experts had suggested cutting down of the affected trees. However, the timber mafia and some officials of the forest department, taking advantage of the situation, chopped down many trees.