CHINIOT: All the 1,341 acres of forest land in Baela Chak Sarkar and Baela Mangeeni have been lying barren for decades while efforts for afforestation made on hundreds of acres bore no results due to lack of funds for irrigation and negligence of the forest department.

The land includes 856 acres of Baela Chak Sarkar and 485 acres in Baela Mangeeni along the River Chenab.

During the British era, there was natural forest spread over the area but along with increase in population, the tree theft started and all the trees were felled illegally by local communities.

Efforts were made a couple of times to afforest the land but in vain. In 1995, the then Range Forest Officer Tajammal Chughtai made afforestation on 100 acres of Baela Mangeeni and the electricity poles, transmission wires, transformers were purchased by the forest department for its tubewells for the first time.

But soon after Chughtai’s transfer a couple of years later, not only the tubewells and electricity installations were stolen but non-provision of budget for irrigation resulted in drying out of thousands of plants.

In year 2004-05, some area was afforested but the planted saplings died due to lack of irrigation caused by the absence of funds. Since then, the land has been lying barren and weeds are growing there while at a number of places the locals occupied the land by cultivating crops.

Range Forest Officer Waqas Shah told Dawn the forest department had not sanctioned budget for new afforestation in the last one decade. He said the employees who had neglected their duty and who were behind the drying out of plants in the past decades were either dismissed from service or the recoveries were imposed on them.

Jhang Divisional Forest Officer Abdul Razzaq said the forest department had not sanctioned any new budget for afforestation in the last decade except for the Chief Minister’s Mass Afforestation project some two years ago for Shorkot tehsil in Jhang district where saplings were planted 262 acres of land. But this afforestation was also facing drying out due to lack of funds for irrigation and opposition of the irrigation department to provide water from its canal, he said.

Mr Razzaq said the new plants needed water badly and two canals were passing along the Baela Shorkot from which the irrigation water was sought for the forest. The Irrigation department sent the request to high-ups for approval which was still being awaited.

The forest department had arranged the water from canal for the new plants and also paid Abiana (water tax) of Rs700,000 to the department, he said, adding that the irrigation department officials got infuriated and lodged seven FIRs of water theft against the forest department officials. In such circumstances, how could the new forest be sustained, he asked.

Haroon Malik, president of the Shaheen Welfare Society, said they had applied to the forest department for the Agro Forestry under the public-private partnership which could result in raising the forest with no cost of the department but it was yet to be approved.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2015

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