Formation of forest committees discussed

Report GH Farooqui
CHITRAL: A meeting of Zilla Council Chitral under the chair of Convener Sultan Shah discussed criteria for distribution of fund under the head of forest royalty and establishment of Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMC).
The District Forest Officer (DFO) briefed the house regarding JFMC criteria. Members of the house said the forest department had failed to implement JFMC rules 2004. The house also expressed its concern over the fact that funds were either not being distributed among the real royalty holders or were embezzled with the conspiracy of the timber mafia. Some of the nazims pointed out that the forest department had established JFMC at each village but they had ignored other non-government organizations like village committees, citizen community boards, women organizations etc.
Qayyum Baig, nazim union council Khoth, asked the DFO to explain how many trees had been cut and why some trees had been marked twice. Besides, why the near and dears one were included in the JFMC.
The district officer revenue and estate Akbar Jalal also briefed the house regarding detail of funds distributed among different royalty holders.
Syed Imtiaz Hussain Jan Advocate, nazim union council Ashriat, presented a resolution which was passed unanimously. It demanded that a committee should be formed under the chair of Imtiaz Hussain Jan to probe into the establishment and framing of a JFMC without the knowledge of the local community.