Over a period of time even urban communities in former united Adilabad district started depending upon forests, the poor ones among them intending to keep their home fires burning, and in the process causing rapid depletion of green cover. “In Adilabad district headquarter town alone nearly 60 people go to forests everyday to collect firewood which has resulted in enormous damage to the vegetation since a few decades,” concurred Adilabad District Forest Officer B. Prabhakar and quoted from a survey conducted a few days back with the aim of controlling indiscriminate felling of trees for firewood.
Irreparable damage
Before anyone realised what was happening, fuelwood extraction — an estimated 200 to 300 medium sized trees being cut for it — had irreparably damaged many stretches of the green cover. Firewood gatherers do not discriminate between species or the age of the trees, which has them fell even the pole size trees thereby adversely affecting natural regeneration.
The first move made in the direction of controlling indiscriminate firewood extraction was to enumerate the collectors from town. As a caste wise list has been made of the fuelwood collectors, it was easy for us to recommend their case to respective welfare departments to find them alternative employment. “We will provide these people employment in our nurseries in Durganagar and mavala whenever feasible,” Mr. Prabhakar assured from his department’s side. “They will also be involved in our plantation works,” he added.
As part of the ongoing special drive to put paid to forest destruction, the department has also issued notices to firewood businessmen in town to take necessary permissions before felling trees even in private agriculture lands. Such businessmen were given training in online application for permission to cut non-teak trees in private lands recently.
Hotels and hostels located in far-flung rural areas are among the biggest consumers of firewood which has the department including them in the scheme of things. “The issue of use of wood as fuel in hostels was discussed at the recent district-level meeting of Forest Protection Committee,” recalled the DFO.
Filing of cases
“In a couple of days, we are planning to take up a drive to dissuade hotel owners from using fuelwood. In the first instance we will warn them against use of wood and on subsequent violation will file cases against them,” he added.
Use of wood as fuel is rampant in the makeshift hotels in the mandal headquarters of Narnoor, Utnoor, Indervelli, Sirikonda, Ichoda, Gudihatnoor, Bazarhatnoor, Boath, Neredigonda and the peripheral areas of Adilabad town. Cartloads of wood come to these town every morning. The use of fuelwood by people who live in forests or its fringes will also be controlled eventually. “Bio gas promotion has been proposed to check use of wood by such villagers,” Mr. Prabhakar disclosed.