Shangla residents seek timber permits to cope with chilling winter

ALPURI: The local Forest Department has not yet prepared an operational plan for issuing permits for timber quota, which multiplied challenges for residents as chilling winter has already set in in the region after the recent rain.

After recent rainfall, the cold has significantly increased in Shangla, but delay from the Forest Department in granting permits has left residents with a host of problems, especially in this region where facilities like gas and electricity or other alternative heating sources are not available.

The Forest Department officials have already made it clear that there was no quota for residents to get wood from forest for use as fuel.

They clarified that forest laws did not entitle residents to cut trees for fuel from the local quota, although they were permitted to collect fallen or dry wood from nearby forests for their use.

They said the Shangla’s working plan was currently under review, and once approved, it would allow for 1,300 trees to be allocated annually from the local quota for construction purposes only.

This includes 300 trees for Alpuri, 180 for Lilownai, 300 for Kana, 500 for Puran and Martung, and 180 for Bisham.

The department, they said, would only issue local quotas on a merit basis for genuine construction needs.

There is a demand from the people to have a clear policy on local permits from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Secretary of Forests, Provincial Chief Conservator of Forests, and other relevant authorities, emphasizing that each

winter, residents of Shangla faced difficulties in accessing their own natural resources.