DFO Sardar Muhammad Saleem and Mr Jawad Mumtaz suspended for 120 days
Peshawar
The provincial government has suspended two senior officers of the forest department under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules for 120 days.
The Climate Change, Forestry, Environment & Wildlife Department has issued the suspension order of Sardar Muhammad Saleem, District Forest Officer (DFO), Hazara Tribal Forest Division, Battagram and Mr Jawad Mumtaz, DFO Siran Forest Division, Masehra.
Both the officers of the KP forest department have been suspended for issuing ‘forest harvesting operation and timber transportation’ passes despite the government having imposed a strict ban on all timber harvesting operations and passes.
“Despite the fact that the transportation of timber was halted by the administrative department w.e.f 25th June, 2024, Divisional Forest Officer, Hazara Tribal Forest Division, Battagram, in clear violation of the ban, issued Transport Pass (TP) No 01, permitting transportations of timber, on 10th July, 2024 blatantly disregarding the explicit instructions and restrictions in place,” said a notification issued by the government.
It is pertinent to mention here that the KP government has imposed a ban on forest harvesting and timber transportation under the “scientific management of forest” program to clear dead, dying, diseased or wind-felled trees from the forests in the province.
The decision to impose a ban on Transportation Pass (TP) was taken after Fazal Hakeem Khan, minister for Climate Change, Environment, Wildlife and Forest, drew its attention to the people’s concerns expressed about forest cutting on social media.
A social media drive also demanded of the provincial government to protest the forests of the province from timber mafia.
Fazal Hakeem Khan had also issued instructions to department concerned for the formation of teams in different divisions of the forests to monitor forest harvesting until the completion of the monitoring of harvested forests.
