Employees fight over seized timber in north Kashmir
Lodge police complaints against each other
Srinagar: Tussle between the officials in the Forest Department and the Forest Protection Force (FPF) personnel in Langate area of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district has finally landed with the police with officials from the two departments filing a complaint against each other.
The fissures among the officials of the two departments started when a team of forest protection force (FPF) in Langate seized smuggled timber from timber smugglers two days back.
The FPF team seized 13 Cubic feet Deodar timber from few people in a forest area along with a cart that was used to ferry the timber, sources said. However, the smugglers managed to give the FPF team a slip and fled from the spot.
Sources said that soon after the timber was confiscated by the FPF team, a group of officials from the state forest department arrived at the control room of FPF in Langate and took away the timber along with the cart that was used for carrying the timber.
While the FPF personnel allege that Gulbaz Ahmad Sheikh, the Block Officer in the local forest zone ‘took the step illegally’ the officer in turn alleged that the FPF personnel ‘illegally disposed off’ the seized timber, a charge which was refuted by the FPF officials.
The FPF personnel said that the said officer “in the garb of employee activism along with his staff members forcibly freed a cart laden with the illegal timber which was seized by them”.
“In other words, he has facilitated smuggling. Now, he is alleging that the FPF personnel are not doing their duties,” they said.
“If it was a case of smuggling, how could he dispose it himself? At least he should have called the police. He is not himself performing his duties,” the FPF officials alleged.
Notably, in a video circulated on social media, the officer says that the FPF personnel “do not protect forests, they just harass people and take money from them even if they have obtained timber through legal means”.
Talking to ‘Kashmir Vision’, Sheikh accused the FPF personnel of not lodging FIR’s against the smugglers.
Sheikh denied that he had freed the illegal timber.
“Earlier also, the FPF would seize illegal timber and dispose it off and keep the money,” he alleged.
“Whether it is the forest officials or the FPF personnel, they have to issue ‘Form 25’ at the time of seizure of the timber, but they won’t do it. They won’t even lodge an FIR. Now if you don’t lodge a FIR, it means something is fishy,” Sheikh added.
However, local sources said that the concerned officer is under the garb of employee activism flouting all norms and acting without following the norms and procedures.
“The seized timber is to be handed over to the forest department officials and a well drafted procedure is to be followed to ensure the transition,” said an FPF official wishing not to be named.
He said that the Forest official without bothering to follow any norms entered the premises of FPF control room and took away the timber without following any due procedure.
The FPF officials have now approached the police and filed a complaint against the official for trespassing all norms.
KV Correspondent
