GUWAHATI, June 9 – Assam has made remarkable progress in the drive to increase its green cover. In fact, it is now among the few states in the country that have a forest cover well beyond generally targeted 33 per cent. This year alone, the State has added 40,000 hectares of new forests. Announcing this today, Assam Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Pradyut Bordoloi, said that the latest state of the Forest Report of the Forest Survey of India has found that Assam has a forest cover of 35.3 per cent. The national forest cover is 20 per cent. The data, based on satellite imagery, has also found that the tree cover in the State is 37.8 per cent of the total land area. Bordoloi said that the 2004 figures are much better than the figures recorded in the previous reports. In 1997, the State has a forest cover of 30.4 per cent. In 1999, it had actually dropped to 30.2 per cent. The Minister said that the credit for the latest achievement should go to the people rather than to himself or his department. But even though the Minister expressed happiness about the overall increase in the forest cover, he was equally concerned about the felling of trees despite the blanket ban imposed by the Supreme Court in 1996.
According to the data provided by the Minister himself, some 1,200 sq km of forests were destroyed between 1991 and 2001. The maximum damage was caused between 1995 and 2000, he said. Much ahead of the Supreme Court ban, the State Government had itself forbidden tree felling in 1986. Despite that the depredation of forests continues. “Even this very minute a tree is probably being cut down,” Bordoloi admitted.
The Minister said that it is simply not possible to guard every part of the 23,688 sq km of reserve forests in the State. The Forest Department has a frontline staff, charged with guarding the forests, of 6,700 men. There are 750 vacant posts.
Stressing on finding out ways and means to sustain forests while meeting the needs of the people, Bordoloi said that scientific and planned exploitation of forests is the answer. It is not possible to curb the demand for forest-based products, he said. Every day the, State needs 1,400 truckloads of firewood, Bordoloi revealed. A million people in the State are dependent on woodcutting for their sustenance. Almost 60 per cent of the wood in furniture shops in the city are illegal, he said, describing how difficult it is to curb illegal trade in timber. “That is why we are now exploring legal means to meet the wood requirements of the people.”
Bordoloi said that forests cannot be protected unless the people are involved in the effort. It is with this in mind that 28 forest development agencies have already been created in the State under which 800 joint forest management committees have been formed involving people at the grassroots level. By the end of the year 1,500 such committees would be formed, he said.
The Minister said that some 3,000 trees are wind-felled in the State every year. On top of that, a large quantity of illegal timber is also seized. In October-December, 2003, the Forest Department organized special auctions of such timber in its depots. Rs 9 crore was generated as a result. In 1999, the State Government had earned Rs 5 crore from the sale of forest produce like timber, stones and sand. This year, the income is Rs 40 crore.
Pointing out how scientific cultivation of trees can work wonders, Bordoloi cited the example of Haryana where poplars are being grown to feed the plywood industry there. Haryana produces 75 per cent of the country’s plywood though it has a forest cover of only 4 per cent. Before the closure of the factories in 1996, Assam used to produce 80 per cent of India’s plywood.