Srinagar: Dozens of standing trees have been chopped off by timber smugglers in Hyhama and Lolab forests of the frontier Kupwara district under the very nose of forest officials this week, people of the area have alleged.
The timber smugglers have cut scores of trees of various varieties in Gonipora of the Hyhama forest range, they said. The smugglers, they alleged, have chopped the trees in broad day light despite the presence of forest officials there.
The smugglers were making preparations to lift the timber from the forested areas to their illegal godowns.
The forest officials know that trees have been cut but they didnt bother to visit the compartment. It clearly indicates that the officials are in nexus with the smugglers, Bashir Ahmad, a local alleged.
Similar reports of timber smuggling were received from many areas of Lolab belt with locals alleging that forest officials are colluding with smugglers.
However, forest officials refuted the allegations and said that every attempt was being made to stop timber smuggling.
A senior official of the Forest Protection Force (FPF) Kupwara, said that his men had laid a naka after receiving information that timber was being smuggled from the forests.
However, the naka was laid after no suspicious movement was observed, he said. (GNS
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