UPPER DIR: Precious deodar and Kail (blue pine) trees are
being felled ruthlessly to be used as firewood in the remote Kohistan
valley of Upper Dir district without any check from the provincial
government.
The cutting of precious deodar trees in
Kumrat, Thal, Kalkot, Barikot and other areas of the Kohistan valley
continues unhindered as the locals claim they have no other source of
heating and cooking in the harsh winter season.
Qari
Mohammad, a resident of Thal, claimed that only the Kumrat and Thal
areas’ dwellers cut the precious deodar trees worth Rs1 billion each
year. He said the people of Kalkot, Barikot and Byar also used deodar
tree for heating and cooking purposes.
It is to mention
here that the people of Kohistan valley had offered the government a few
years back that they were ready stop cutting deodar trees if they were
provided with the natural gas facility. However, the government did not
pay any heed to their demand.
The residents worried that
if the cutting of precious deodar, Kail, oak, and other trees continued
at the existing pace, it would destroy the forest cover within a few
years.
They said that temperatures dropped to minus 7 to
10 degrees Celsius in the winter months in Kumrat, Thal, Kakot and
other areas of the Kohistan valley due to which they were forced to use
huge amounts of firewood to keep them warm.
Meanwhile,
the residents of the plain areas, including Dir, Chukiyatan, Bibyawar,
Darora and Wari, are also facing shortage of firewood due to a ban on
movement of oak tree which is the main source of firewood in the area.
They
said that the ban had also caused an increase in the price of firewood,
adding they had to make advance bookings at the wood sale points due to
its shortage.
The sale point owners said they were
facing difficulties in bringing firewood from nearby areas. The people
of Upper Dir demanded of both the federal and provincial governments to
provide gas facility to the district and also find out other alternate
sources of fuel in the remote areas like Kohistan valley to help
preserve the precious forest cover.
