April - June, 2010 - Sustainable Development Policy Institute

SDPISustainable Development Policy Institutethe details Umair Abbas the sub-inspector of HighwayPatrolling in Shah Khaki area was on routine patrol onChowa road. He stopped a suspicious pickup truck forsearch and recovered 17 logs of Chir Pine worth45,000 rupees. He arrested the driver of the truck,Waheed son of Ayub resident of Changa Mira villageof Bhagsana area. The accused was trying tosmuggle this costly wood to Bhakkar. Onthe application from inspector Umair AbbasKallar Saiydan Police has registered a caseand launched investigation.Dhadar: Locals unite against reckless cutting of forestsCommittee formed for protection of forests;Abrar Hussain nominated president; incompetence of officials criticizedDaily Shamal, Abbottabad, May 01, 2010Dhadar (Shamal Correspondent)Residents of Dhadar held ameeting on the importance offorests and reckless cutting oftrees. Residents of Dhadarenthusiastically attended themeeting which discussed issuesrelated with cutting of trees andinefficiency of forest officials.Expressing concern over thesituation notables of the area saidthat all forests in the area willvanish if cutting of forestscontinues at the current pace.Residents of Dhadar formed acommittee for the protection offorests and elected its members.Abrar Hussain was electedpresident, Mian Ghulan Nabi vicepresident, Mohammad Jansecretary general, and KhalilurRehman was elected treasure ofthe committee.Protection of forests, plan of Dural Dam should bemodified: Malik DidarForests will be destroyed if the dam is built according to the previous planDaily Azadi, Swat, May 05, 2010Bahrain (Special Correspondent)Addressing a Jirga (meeting oftribal council) former provincialminister Malik Didar demandedthat the plan of Dural Dam shouldbe modified. Forests will bedestroyed if the dam is builtaccording to the previous plan. Itwill also damage the irrigationsystem. If the dam is built under anew plan the environment will besaved from being devastated. Ahandful of people want to build thedam according to the old plan.This is their personal opinion. Thecommunity is of the view that thedam should be built according tothe new plan and design.Ahal: forest department remains oblivious;forests are being cut like vegetablesTimber Mafia agents get a free hand; devastation of Green Gold at its peakDaily Shamal, Abbottabad, May 09, 2010Konish Valley (SpecialCorrespondent) Due to criminalneglect and corruption of theForest Department officialsvaluable trees of Ahal Compart arebeing cut like vegetables. GreenGold is being severely devastated.Thick forests are turning intobarren lands. People of the areastrongly protested against thereckless cutting of trees. Theycomplained that the agents oftimber mafia have gone out ofcontrol. Forest is depleting due toreckless cutting of trees in AhalCompart of Tanglai Hill. Theofficials of the Forest Departmentare acting like silent spectatorsafter receiving bribes. Theseviews were expressed by DrZaheer, a prominent social andpolitical activist of Ahal village.Pakistan Forest Digest Vol. 1, No. 1, April – June, 2010