Jammu, Mar 11: In a response to query, Minister in-charge of Forest, Ecology & Environment Department, Adv. Reyaz Ahmad Khan, laid out detailed data on the issuance of timber under the Kashmir Notice in the Shangus-Anantnag East Constituency over the past two years.
According to the official reply, a total of 90 beneficiaries were provided timber in the years 2023-24 and 2024-25. Specifically, 4139.96 CFTs of timber were distributed to 41 beneficiaries in 2023-24, while in 2024-25, 4721 CFTs of timber were issued to 49 beneficiaries, under the jurisdiction of Forest Division Anantnag and Lidder. The names and details of these beneficiaries have been provided in Annexure-A.
Further, 14 applications from the same constituency remain pending. The government assured that these applications are currently under ground verification and will be processed and disposed of in due course.
Clarifying the procedure, the department highlighted that timber under the Kashmir Notice is not issued through sale depots. Instead, the process involves: Enumeration of fallen Kail and Fir trees in April, Approval by the concerned Conservator of Forests, Processing of cases at the Range Office level, and Final sanctioning by the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO).
Priority is given on a first-come-first-serve basis to beneficiaries residing in inaccessible areas, underscoring the government’s commitment to equitable resource distribution in far-flung regions.
The response also emphasized that timber from sale depots is handled separately by the Jammu and Kashmir Forest Development Corporation (JKFDC) and does not fall under the purview of the Kashmir Notice scheme.
