Daily Times

UPPER DIR: Hundreds of previous Devdar trees measuring thousands of feet fallen due to wind and other natural disasters in various forests in Kohistan Valley are getting spoiled and destroyed, costing billions of rupees annual loss to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government, forest department and forests owners.

Tall and adulated fallen trees seen lying on earth in various places in the forests of the Kohistan Valley including Gandrai, Jazz banda, Lamotai, Kalkot, Kumrat and others but concerned departments are least bothered over this loss of national wealth.

Local residents said that hundreds of mighty Devdar trees had fallen due to strong winds, floods, land erosion due to rains, earthquakes and other natural calamities. “Instead of being used for various purposes, these precious trees are getting spoiled and decomposed. Sadly locals were not allowed to retrieve and utilize the fallen trees due to a ban by the forest department and the provincial government,” a local resident Raja Taj Muhammad Khan said.

He said that owing to that ban they could not take those trees into their custody and thus, the precious wood was wasted without utilization. “In these circumstances the government, the forest department or the local people, no one is getting any benefit from these trees”, said another local Abdullah.

The local residents also complained about illegal cutting of the forests by the timber mafia. They also criticized the role of the forest department saying that the forest department had not deployed its employees in those forests to keep check on illegal cutting of forests, giving a free hand to the timber mafia and smugglers who were busy in illegal cutting of forests.

One local person involved in illegal cutting of the wood told this scribe on condition of anonymity that the cutting of trees was their need as it fulfilled their domestic needs. Residents said that the forest department and government were not taking steps to bring in use the fallen trees. “The government should make sure these trees were brought into proper use. It is costing the government an approximate annual loss of Rs 3 to 5 billion. The deforestation is also on the rise and it is costing a lot to the beautification of the valley,” said Raja Taj Muhammad.

Local residents demanded that the forest department and the provincial government should give permission to locals for utilizing the fallen trees to the market.