JAMMU, Aug 14: The Association of Timber Industry (ATI) has announced that its members will not participate in any further e-auctions conducted by the State Forest Corporation (SFC) until the issue of alleged improper sorting and mixing of lower-grade timber with C-class timber lots is resolved.
A press conference was held by the Association under the chairmanship of its President Joginder Singh, who highlighted the difficulties being faced by timber traders due to what the association termed as incorrect classification of timber.
Joginder Singh said the association had already held meetings with the General Manager and Divisional Manager of the State Forest Corporation regarding the alleged mixing of lower-grade timber, locally referred to as “Hash”, which was previously sold separately as rotten timber, with C-class timber lots.
He said the association had decided that no timber merchant would participate in SFC e-auctions until the matter was resolved. According to him, the decision was taken after discussions with the concerned officials and was aimed at protecting traders from potential financial losses.
The ATI president said the timber being offered for sale was already collected from dried, diseased and fallen trees in accordance with the guidelines of the Supreme Court, and therefore the quality of timber was naturally not comparable to fresh timber.
He claimed that the State Forest Corporation had traditionally followed a proper system of lotting, under which Hash timber was segregated from C-class timber. According to him, this practice had been followed for decades, but the alleged mixing of Hash with C-class lots under the present sales guidelines had created serious concerns among timber traders.
Joginder Singh said the practice was “totally unacceptable” to the traders, particularly at a time when profit margins in the timber trade were already shrinking. He maintained that purchasing mixed lots could expose traders to substantial losses.
The association president further claimed that traders had, for the first time, boycotted three consecutive e-auctions over the issue. He said participating in the auctions under the existing conditions would be financially unsustainable for traders.
He thanked members of the timber trade for making the boycott successful and reiterated that the association would continue to boycott all future e-auctions until a satisfactory resolution was reached.
“The traders cannot afford to bear losses due to improper classification of timber lots,” the association maintained, urging the concerned authorities to intervene and restore the earlier system of proper segregation of different grades of timber.
Among those present at the press conference were Puneet Singh Jamwal, Kuldeep Singh, Bharat Bhushan, Narinder Tehran, Vijay Tehran, Sandeep Gupta, Nakul Gupta, Sham Sunder Arora, Rajesh Gupta and other members of the association.