RESIDENTS of Chitral have time and again brought to the notice of government officials that Chitral has become a haven for timber mafia in the last few years. In the garb of windfall trees green deodar trees are being ruthlessly cut in the forest of the Kalash Valley and other surrounding areas by some members of the timber mafia while the forest department has maintained silence.

Usually the so-called windfall timber is collected in the stall of the Forest Development Corporation (district forest department custody) and these are auctioned to interested members of the timber mafia by the forest department.

After buying these auctioned trees from the stall of the forest department, timber contractors replace them with high quality timber, in collusion with forest officials. Later, trees are loaded in trucks and smuggled to Peshawar and Punjab.

The price of timber is now skyrocketing in Chitral, and the mafia is minting billions in collusion with some government officials.

There is a need to ban the movement of timber from Chitral to the rest of the country.

NASIR MEHMOODDrosh, Chitral