0222-B1

Illicit Felling in the Gonda Forest Division of Uttar Pradesh, India - A Case Study

Sujoy Banerjee^[1]

ABSTRACT

Illicit felling is a serious problem not only in India, but also in all developing countries. The quantum and mode of illicit fellings are governed by a number of factors such as accessibility, ease of transportation, species, age and growth and above all, the profit generated by such illicit fellings in each operation. While the problem of illicit felling is common, the modus operandi varies from place to place. An insight and thorough understanding of the problem of illicit felling can greatly help in its control. This case study focuses on the problem of illicit felling in the Gonda Forest Division located in the foothills of the Himalayas in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The main tree species susceptible to illicit felling are Sal (Shorea robusta) and Teak forests (Tectona grandis). An attempt has been made to provide an insight into the problem of illicit felling, the modus operandi, seasonality of fellings, economics of fellings, and the steps taken by the Forest Department of the state to tackle this problem.

Introduction

The Gonda Forest Division is situated in the state of Uttar Pradesh, mainly in the two districts of Gonda and Balarampur. It was earlier called the South Gonda Forest Division. A minor part of this division is also situated in Shrawasti and Basti districts. Geographically, the division falls between 26°47’00” and 27°32’30” longitude and 81°37’50” and 82°37’35” latitude. It is bordered by the Sohelwa Wildlife Division (erstwhile North Gonda Division) in the north, Faizabad and Basti districts in the south, Siddhartha Nagar in the east, and Bahraich and Shrawasti districts in the west. Four major rivers, namely, Kuwana, Bisuhi, Manwar and Chamnai, apart from a number of seasonal streams and nullahs, intersect the Division.

Forests Of The Gonda Division

This division contains valuable forest areas declared as Reserved Forests. Apart from these, there are also ´Vested Forests’, which had been vested with the Forest Department after the abolition of the Zamindari Abolition Act was enforced. The Tikri range contains forests declared as Reserved between 1891 and 1945.

The details of the Reserved Forests in Gonda Forest Division are given in Table I.

TABLE I

DETAILS OF RESERVED FORESTS IN GONDA FOREST DIVISION

Source: Working Plan of the South Gonda Forest Division (1998-99 to 2007-2008)

U/S: Under section (of the Indian Forest Act, 1927).

² Area for which, FINAL notification declaring the area as Reserved Forest has been made.

³ Area for which, INITIAL notification declaring the area as Reserved Forest has been made

Apart from the Reserved Forests, most of the roads in the division including national highways, state highways, district roads and other roads have been given under the control of the Forest Department and declared as ´Protected Forests’ vide G.O. No. 2986/1-PWD-3969/58 dated 11^th June 1965. All roadsides, whether planted or not, are under the jurisdiction of the division for forestry activities. The total length of the roads in this division is 1117 kms. Similarly, the areas along the railway lines, amounting to 167 kms are also under the jurisdiction of this division for forestry activities and have been declared as protected forests vide G.O. no. 8109/14-2-503-77 dated 25-1-79.

The location of the forests in the respective ranges has been presented in Map 1. A glance at the map reveals that the forests are located along the major streams. The other significant thing than can be interpreted from the map is that some of the forest areas are in the form of small pockets or ´islands’ surrounded by agricultural land on all sides. Though it is not visible in the map, but in some cases, the pockets of forests, sometimes nearly a single hectare, are located far apart from each other. This creates a problem in protection of such patches by the staff deployed in the respective beats. Moreover, certain villages have their only access through forest areas, while most of the others have short cuts through the forests, due to which, it is not possible to restrict the movement of the local people in the forest areas.

Vegetation

Majority of the forests in this area fall under the category 3C/C2d(iii) of the Champion and Seth’s Classification named Eastern Heavy Alluvium Plains Sal Forests. Apart from these, some forests located along the rivers in swampy areas fall under 4D/ss2 - Barringtonia Swamp Forests and 4D/ss3 - Syzigium cuminii Swamp Low Forests.

Sal (Shorea robusta) Forests: Most of the forests in this division have been raised by Taungya cultivation. Three classifications can be made on the basis of the past management of the respective areas:

1. Unfelled old crop
2. Coppiced crop
3. Taungya crop

1. Unfelled Old Crop: These are crops of varying densities and composed of trees of different age classes. These types of forests are mainly found in the Ranges of Rehra, Utraula, Kuwana and Sadulla Nagar.

2. Coppice Crop: The management of sal by coppice was followed between 1919 and 1954. The density of stocking in these forests is not appropriate, nor is there any uniformity in the crop. In such areas, gap planting has been taken up with teak (Tectona grandis), which has resulted in the crop having a mixture of both teak and sal in some areas.

3. Taungya Crop: The term ´Taungya Cultivation’ refers to the practice of clearfelling forest areas and replanting them, while the space between the rows of seedlings planted is used for cultivation. The agricultural crops acts as a nurse crop for the young seedlings, as well as the fertilizers and the irrigations applied is very beneficial for the tree crop. The cultivation is economically viable for three to four years after which, the cultivation is shifted to a new area in the same way as described above.

The Taungya method of cultivation started in this division in 1926 and continued till 1986. Due to this, forests of Taungya origin exist in different age classes. Apart from sal, teak, jamun (Syzigium cuminii), arjun (Terminalia arjuna) and shisham (Dalbergia latifolia) are also found in the crop in some places due to improper management practices.

In general, the regeneration is very poor in almost all sal areas due to heavy biotic pressure.

Illicit Felling

From illicit felling point of view, the two major species felled are sal and teak. Illicit felling does take place for other species also, but they are neither severe, nor commercial in nature.

In the Gonda Forest Division, the illicit felling can be divided into three types:

1. Illicit Felling for Self-Consumption: Villagers who reside in villages adjacent to forest areas undertake this type of felling. Illicit felling is done for making the support beams of thatched roof, tying cattle and construction of agricultural equipments; mainly the shoulder piece of cattle ploughs, locally called the ‘Juari’. Obviously, the illicit felling of this kind increases during the period coinciding with ploughing season and before the advent of the rainy season. In general, poles and trees of diameter up to 30 cms are felled (PLATE - I).

PLATE I: An aborted attempt of felling has caused the tree to break on a windy day

2. Illicit felling for petty gains: This type of felling is resorted to by small time forest offenders, who undertake illicit felling for petty gains. The tree is felled and cut into logs, and carried by the person on his shoulder singly, or in case of heavier logs by slinging it on a long pole carried by two persons. The illicit fellers also carry the logs on bicycle; up to three logs can be carried by balancing it within the triangular frame of the cycle. The cycle is then pushed manually to haul the timber out of the forest area. In this case also, the diameter of the tree is up to 30 cms as it is difficult to haul out logs of bigger sizes manually or by bicycle. The logs are taken to nearby fields and hidden for two or three days. Then they are hand sawn on the spot (usually in the night to avoid attention) and are utilized for furniture making, doors and windows, etc.

3. Illicit Felling by Forest Mafias: This is the most serious type of forest offences as these felling involve trees of higher girth classes, generally more than 30-40 cms. The mafias are well organized and each operation can earn them Rs. 25,000 for each offence, depending on the species and size of tree felled. Since they have access to the forest area, therefore, they usually chose among the best trees available. The modus operandi is given in the box below.

4. Illicit Felling for Encroachment: This type of felling takes place along village boundaries. The trees are generally not felled in one go. Instead, the trees are subjected to constant girdling due to which the tree dies and dries up (PLATE - II). Due to further girdling, the tree eventually falls down. The stump is also gradually made flush to the ground by chipping. The area can then be easily encroached, as there is lack of boundary demarcation at most places.

PLATE II: Heavy girdling in a Sal tree on the fringe of the forest near the village boundary

Seasonality Of Fellings

For analyzing the seasonality of felling, graphs for plotted for the value of illicit felling in three major ranges of Gonda Forest Division for the year 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, which is presented as Fig 1 and Fig. 2 below:

Fig 1: EXTENT OF ILLICIT FELLING IN THREE RANGES OF GONDA FOREST DIVISION (1999-2000)

Fig 2: EXTENT OF ILLICIT FELLING IN THREE RANGES OF GONDA FOREST DIVISION (2000-2001)

It can be seen from the figures that there is not specific seasonality pattern of illicit felling, though, in general, a slight rise in illicit felling is witnessed during the months of May and June, as well in the colder winter months. Sharp peaks can also be witnessed in some cases indicating sudden rise in illicit felling in some month. It usually occurs whenever transfers of the field staff, especially Range Forest Officers take place, though this cannot be quoted as a rule. The extent of felling in different ranges is also significant. Most of the forest mafias reside in areas within the Tikri and Rehra ranges, and therefore, the extent of illicit felling is more in these ranges.

Economic Evaluation Of Illicit Felling

The value of illicit felling in Gonda Forest Division from 1998-99 to 2000-2001 is presented below in Figure 3. It can be seen from the figure that in the year 1998-99, the value of illicit felling varied between Rs. 1,71,000 to Rs. 17,000. In 1999-2000, the value fluctuated between Rs. 91,000 and Rs. 20,000, and in the year 2000-2001 (till February) the value varied from Rs. 26,000 to Rs. 6,000. Another significant interpretation that can be made from the Figure is that in the past three years, the value of illicit felling has come down significantly, and the graph of the year 2000-2001 is more or less smooth with very less peaks and troughs, indicating that illicit felling in the division has more or less stabilized at the minimum.

Fig 3: ECONOMIC VALUATION OF ILLICIT FELLING IN GONDA FOREST DIVISION

Efforts Done By The Forest Department

It can be seen from the previous discussion that the forest staff posted at the field level is working under adverse circumstances. Coupled with the fact that till now, forest officers did not have the power to confiscate vehicles^[2] and do not have the power to open fire on forest offenders, though they have been provided with official arms and ammunitions has made the job of protection all the more difficult for the field staff. At times, the field staff has been threatened or assaulted by the forest mafias. In one such case in Rehra Range, a field staff was kidnapped and detained while on patrol by the forest mafias, and was released later after being beaten up. In another case, the forest mafias snatched the rifle of a field staff, which was later recovered with the help of the police. It has to also to be admitted that hardly any stringent punishment is given to the forest offenders, which could act as a deterrent for committing forest crimes.

The steps taken by the Forest Department for the control of the forest mafias is as under:

1. For the better protection of the forest areas, ex-servicemen have been posted under contract with the U.P. Ex-Servicemen welfare board. These ex-servicemen have been provided with arms and ammunition, as well as bicycles, torches etc., and they patrol the forest areas in groups.

2. In Gonda Forest Division, the existing forest mafias have been graded into ´A’, ´B’ and ´C’ categories depending on the extent of their activities, category ´A’ being the most notorious. In 1998, 28 ´A’ category mafias, 13 ´B’ category mafias, and 13 ´C’ category mafias existed. With the persistent efforts of the Forest Department, most of the mafias have either fled, or are dormant.

3. The cooperation of the Police Department in the control of the forest mafias is also significant. Cases have booked against the forest mafias under different sections of the Indian Penal Code and action has been taken under the Goonda Act and Gangster Act against some of the forest mafias.

4. At the circle level, a ´Top five’ forest mafia list is prepared and sent to the Deputy Inspector General of Police of the concerned range, who in turn, initiates action against the listed offenders and sends the report to the government.

5. Since the activities of mafias are well planned, constant patrolling of the forest areas by the field staff, as well as information gathering about the movement of forest mafias through informers has greatly helped in controlling illicit felling by them. Constant patrolling of forests areas, especially during nighttime is a continuous activity in the forest areas.

References

Anon. 1927., Indian Forest Act, 1927. Government of India and Amendments by State Government of Uttar Pradesh.

Anon. 1980., Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Government of India.

Anon. 1927., Indian Penal Code.. Government of India

Govt. of Uttar Pradesh., Official records regarding illicit felling and forest mafias in Gonda Forest Division. Forest Department, U.P., Faizabad.

Sinha, V.K., 1998., Working Plan of the South Gonda Forest Division, Saryu Circle, U.P. (1998-99 to 2007-08), Working Plan Circle (Second), Forest Department, U.P., Nainital.