Preserving forest wealth
By TN Kaul

HAVING been recently singed by the latest forest fires in Rajgarh tehsil of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh, I have been wondering whether this is a natural calamity or man-made disaster, or a combination of both. During the last 30 years that I have been living here on a little isolated hill-top, I have seen many forest fires from a distance all around, growing bigger and wider. Some attribute this to a growing population in the villages, to atomic and nuclear explosions in the world, the widening of the ozone hole and so on. Others say that the transfer of the felling of forest trees to the autonomous corporation is mainly responsible because the Forest Department no longer feels directly responsible for protecting the forest wealth and leaves it to the corporation. This may not be thewhole truth but this is the opinion of most villagers.
Did we have such calamities in ancient India, when there were far fewer people in villages as well as in the administration, when there were hardly any roads in the rural areas or near the forest areas, and no trucks that could load stolen or forbidden timber from illegal fellings? One wonders why village people are hostile or indifferent to the half-hearted attempts of the cynical administration to anticipate or put out forest fires. They do not seem to make any efforts to win the cooperation of other departments or of the village folk meeting such disasters.
I have questioned a lot of villagers as well as some members of the administration to understand and find out the truth, but it is not easy to pinpoint the real causes and suggest remedial measures, because of the contradictory statements of those concerned and affected. Some say that the controlled fires which the Forest Department starts in selected areas in the winter are ill conceiveed and not properly planned and conducted, with the result that some sparks fly off to uncontrolled areas and lead to forest fires. Other allegations are that the corporation contractors, in league with junior officials of the Forest Department, such as guards, and even those above them, deliberately set fire to hide and remove any traces of their illegal fellings. These and other allegations need to be thoroughly investigated, both by the government and the media, so that the truth may be ascertained and remedial measures recommended to meet this serious threat to our national wealth, environment, and safety and security of the rural folk.
The three main agencies which could prevent and control forest fires are: (a) the government, the Forest Department mainly, as well as the district and tehsil authorities; (b) the Forest Corporation, which is an autonomous body mainly interested in cutting down forest trees, transporting them in the contracotrs’ trucks to the markets in the plains, selling them at high profit and making money, the bulk of which goes to the government and some to the intermediaries; and (c) the village people, who see in the corporation a monster draining away their and the country’s forest wealth. They seem to have lost interest in saving the forests because they have hardly any say or stake in the matter and have even lost some of the customary rights they used to enjoy in the old days such as getting grass and dry wood and even an old tree or two to repair or build their huts, in a decade two.
In the old days, before the corporation was formed, the Forest Department was the sole agency responsible for ensuring that forest wealh was not denuded or depleted. They carried out their duties in varying degrees of efficiency departmentally. Since the corporation has come into existence the Forest Department seems to have lost whatever interest it had before, for responsiblity is now mainly of the corporation though the department is still, in theory, supposed to supervise. The departmental staff from Forest Guards and above are afraid to take action against illegal fellings (mainly by the Corporation contractors and their agents). They neither seek the village people’s support? (nor try to win their cooperation in catching offenders. The people are also becoming indifferent and are not willing to be dragged into courts for giving evidence when their own rights and interests are no longer respected or safeguarded. All this has led to increasing bribery and corruption.
Even the bamboo barriers that have been erected to check trucks carrying felled trees and timber have become an additional means to extract bribes from the contactors, truck owners and their drivers. The people are reluctant to report or give evidence against the offenders, for their complaints in the past, they say, have only led to their harassment and no positive results, let alone any rewards. Those forest guards in the wish to catch the offenders red-handed are afraid to do so becasue they have no police to help them and the people are hesitant to help.
The Senior Officers of the Forest Department seem to have lost the interest they had when they were directly responsible. Now that there is an autonomous corporation, why should the department take any responsibility? This seems to be their mental attitude to the problem. They do not even ask for or welcome any help from other agencies such as home guards, or the people at large, but rely mainly on hired labour who are not as motivated as the villagers who are directly affected and have, therefore, a much greater stake.
As for the Forest Department’s ‘working plans’ they are neither publicised nor duly implemented, with the result that deforestation is far in excess of effective afforestation. The paper figures may be fiattering but the facts are not. The extraction of resin from the trees is a sad spectacle and brings tears to the eyes of the beholder. They suck the life blood from the trees which dry up or wither away after a year or two.
It is time to seriously consider whether the corporation, which is mainly a commercial autonomous body interested in making money and not concerned with or interested in the welfare of the people, should not be abolished and the Forest Department made dirctly responsible for the enire process of afforestation and preventing deforestation and illegal felling as well as forest fires.
The corporation is an eyesore to the villagers. They look upon it as an exploiter and plunderer of their forest wealth. Some of them join the loot and share the profits from illegal felling but most of the villagers do not. Their cooperation must be sought by the Forest Department.
The celebration of vana mahotsavas is an annual farce! Saplings are planted along the roadside mainly for show. No one looks after them, nor are they fenced or watered and die an unfortunate death within a few weeks of being planted. Would it not be better to distribute such trees and plants free of cost to the villagers to plant them in their fields and award prizes to those who show good results?
For prevention of forest fires, there is urgent need to win the active cooperation of the villagers through efforts of all departmental heads in each tehsil — the S.D.M., B.D.O., H.D.O, the PWD, the police, Irrigation and other departments, for putting out forest fires through vigilance committees in each village as well as through panchayats. The responsibility of the Forest Department for organising all this must be ensured and enforced.
There is a university of forestry and horticulture at Nauni village in Solan district. It is a well run institution and is doing good work in the field of research. It could be given funds to find methods of preventing and controlling forest fires. The results of research must be transplanted in the field but for this the University must be given funds by the state and Central governments and made responsible to produce concrete results within a short time frame of two to three years.
Last, but not the least important, is the winning of people’s cooperation. This is sadly neglected on the ground, though speeches are made every day from various platforms by politicians and others. If due attention is not paid to this important aspect of the problem, there will not only be more CHIPKO movements, but what is more, open defiance and revolt against the unjust, unfair and antinational activities of the corporation and its agents.
Decentralisation and Panchayati Raj must seep down to the village level in every nook and corner of the rural areas. Ministers, politicians, media persons, and senior departmental heads must visit rural areas and not merely sit in their ivory towers in state capitals making grandiose plans and drawing up paper plans without any chance of their implementation on the ground.