Distribution of forest royalty: Timber mafia opposing initiative of district admin

Some vested interests backed the powerful timber mafia of Chitral have openly started manipulating an initiative of the district administration aimed at distribution of forest royalty to the royalty holders directly instead of involving the Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) to ensure transparency.
At Arandu, Shishi Koh, Damil Nisar, Arsoon and Kalash valleys of Bumburate, Birir and Rumbur, the government pays 60 percent of the income generated from the sale of forest timber to the local residents when the forest is harvested on commercial scale which normally happens after every five years.
The mass scale irregularities in distribution of the said amount among the royalty holders had been a lingering issue for quite long. The locals of the area are of the view that instead of the actual royalty holders, most of the amount ended up in the pockets of the so-called Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) constituted in each lot of the forest in these areas.
The JFMCs are non-representative and mostly headed by non-locals and members of the timber mafia who have connections with local political leaders as well as contractors of the timber trade. So far, it is alleged, millions of rupees have been embezzled by members of the JFMCs in connivance with the powerful elements involved in timber business as well as the forest department officials.
Deputy Commissioner Irshad Ali Sodhar said that he has announced a team of officials headed by a revenue official and had started a survey in the southern sub-valleys of Chitral to give women shares in the royalty of forest.
He said that as per practice in vogue for the disbursement of forest royalty, the amount was placed at the disposal of JFMC office-bearers where the funds were often misappropriated. -PR