Govt plans to reinvigorate forest, other departments

It has been proposed to consolidate the field staff of Forest, Wildlife and Fisheries Departments in Punjab and to give powers to the three departments. Consideration will also be given to changes in existing forest and wildlife laws and staff training.

On the direction of Punjab chief minister, a task force has been formed to improve the forest, wildlife and fisheries sectors in the province and bring them in line with modern requirements. The task force comprises Dr Ashiq Ahmad Khan, Uzma Khan, Farhan Anwar Chaudhry, Malik Azam Hayat Noon and Lieutenant-General (Retd.) Tahir Ali Qureshi.

The task force has been headed by former honorary game warden Badar Munir. The task force will be an advisory body, the first meeting of which is likely to be held in the next few days. Badar Munir, chairman of the task force, told the Express Tribune that currently, the three departments -- Forest, Wildlife and Fisheries -- were short of manpower. In this regard, it would be suggested to the Punjab chief minister that the field staff of the three departments be brought together because the work of the three was intertwined.

Wildlife and forests are inseparable. Where there are forest workers, they should be given wildlife powers so that if they catch someone hunting illegally, they can issue a challan to them. Similarly, wildlife and fisheries personnel should be given forest powers. “This will solve one of our biggest problems,” he said. He also said that a helpline would be set up for information and complaints on deforestation, illegal hunting of wildlife and fisheries while the performance of the three departments would also be shared on the social media.

Improving the performance of these departments would not only provide protection to forests and wildlife but it would also promote eco-tourism in Punjab. Uzma Khan, a WWF worker and member of the task force, told The Express Tribune that the most important thing at the moment was to close the legal gap in these departments. Laws needed to be changed and reformed. She said that our wildlife law could do nothing about imported animals and birds which were not found in the local environment.

In Punjab, there were rules and regulations for keeping endangered wild animals like lions and tigers individually, but in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there were different procedures.