The practice of setting afire the fallen leaves of Mahua tree prior to the collection of fresh flowers is leading appears to be causing minor forest fires in the Chintoor Agency in East Gadavri district.
Every summer, the tribal people living in the Agency set the fallen Mahua leaves on fire to keep the ground under the tree clean. It helps the tribal people collect the Mahua flowers easily.
On March 24, a forest fire that spread over a few hundred meters was reported between Chintoor and Edugurallapalli, a 30-km forest stretch that has a lot of Mahua trees.
“The practice of setting afire the leaves was rampant in Chintoor Agency a few decades ago. However, it is believed that many tribal people still practice it,” says social worker Subhani Syed, who works in the Agency. Collection of Mahua flower is the prime source of livelihood in the summer as a majority of the tribal families generate an additional come by seelling Mahula flower that has a good commercial value.
“A major chunk of Mahua flowers are procured by traders from Chhattisgarh,” says a senior forest official.
Prevention mechanism
An activist working on tribal livelihood options told The Hindu: “The Forest Department should have a mechanism to tackle the forest fires. The Fire Tracing Lines (FTLs) must be marked in the strategic locations to prevent the spread of forest fire. But there is no such mechanism in place here as of now.”
A huge chunk of Reserve Forest (RF) cover on the Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border in Chintoor Agency is home for the Mahua trees.
Awareness campaign
“We have appealed to the tribal people not to set fire in the forest for collection of Mahua flower. A ground-level campaign is also being under way in the weekly markets, persuading the tribal people to stop the practice,” said Chintoor Divisional Forest Officer V. Saibaba.