At one point in time more than 80 percent of the state’s entire territory was under the forest cover and lumbering was one of the major economic activities. Indeed this was the time when forest products contributed a whole lot to the state’s economy. But owing to both governmental neglect as well as official incompetence, which couldn’t regulate and manage forestry on scientific lines, the entire activity of lumbering was closed down for good.
Then as the population continued to grow and so did the demand for more houses and hence more timber, the Forest department and its subsidiaries failed to live up to this demand, which automatically gave rise to a culture of loot in the form of timber smuggling which continues without any respite.
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Indeed what could be more sad a commentary on the poor state of affairs than the fact that Jammu and Kashmir does not have any Forest Policy worth even a name. Had there been one, then somebody would have bothered to question why has the Forest department itself grown into a sort of white elephant, which instead of contributing to the state’s economy is only draining it like a parasite.
As of now hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of construction-grade (A-grade) timber is rotting in various official depots and several times more is rotting inside the forests, but there is nobody who is bothered about it. While the common people are thirsting for timber, the Forest department is doing nothing to supply it to them. It defies common sense that the department is letting the timber to rot but is not selling the same to the needy which would not only have contributed big revenue to the state exchequer but would have also brought down the demand for timber, thus discouraging the timber smuggling in turn.
Another worrisome factor of our forests and particularly their management is tapping the vast potential of what is in official jargon called “minor forest products” or MFP. This MFP which includes hundreds of herbs and medicinal plants are a huge resource just waiting proper exploitation. This is not to say that the potential is not exploited – certainly it is, but in the most disorganized and shady way. This huge resource worth millions has been left to either rot in the forests or has been given for virtual peanuts to a few people who are in this trade. So far nothing worthwhile has been done to tap this huge wealth, and one is hard at understanding why has there been a deliberate neglect of this important resource.
