Forest officials seize large quantity of timber, illegal machine

Timber seized by Forest Department sleuths. — Excelsior/Tilak Raj
Timber seized by Forest Department sleuths. — Excelsior/Tilak Raj

Excelsior Correspondent

BHADARWAH, May 17: Acting tough against the forest offenders, the sleuths of Bhaderwah Forest Division seized large quantity of timber and an illegal planer machine being operated from a mud house here today.
Acting on a tip off about the use of planer machine being operated illegally to manufacture timber products used in construction works, a joint team of territorial Forest Department and Forest Protection Force headed by Range Officer Shafqat Khakan Malik under the supervision of DFO Bhadarwah Chander Shekhar, raided a mud house in compartment number 56 of Neeru Range near Mathola village and seized a planer machine and 75 planks of Cedar wood extracted illegally from adjoining forest.
“We have been getting information for some time that a planer machine has been installed illegally in a mud house and is being used to manufacture building material (doors & windows) on large scale made of Cedar wood extracted from the adjoining forests”, said Shafqat Mehmood Malik, Range Officer Neeru Range.
“Today the mud house was raided and there we found a planer machine installed and 75 planks of timber measuring 31.77 cubic feet”, Officer said adding that the owner namely Javed Jaffery Butt failed to produce the valid document.
“Legal action has been initiated against the offenders and they have been booked under relevant sections”, said Shafqat Malik.