Smugglers, encroachers at large as forest disappears near towns
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15/11/2003
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Kashmir Times (Jammu)
Apart from damages caused by Jammu and Kashmir State Forest Corporation (SFC), timber smuggling, with in the Doda district, has also played havoc with the forests of this mountain locked district. The illegal trade, despite tall claims by the authorities to check the menace, continues without any breakthrough. It has been observed that during last over one decade when illegal timber trade got momentum, large stretches of forests in close vicinity of townships turned into deserts.