Majority Report of the Committee Constituted to ... - Forest Rights Act

I. Physical Features.
16. A detailed picture of the physical features of this forest block
can be found in R.L Derry’s (District Forest Officer, Puri Division)
inspection report of 2nd January, 1930. (Annexure B3, pages 34-37). He
stated in this report that the area was a typical mangrove swamp
formation along the coast. In the estate it forms a well defined band
running the whole length of the eastern or coastal boundary. Derry
stated that-
“The forest in this tract is the typical mangrove formation found in
estuaries subject to tidal inundation. Having no previous
experience of them I imagine they resemble the forests of the
Sunderbans region of Bengal. In place, as near the old Garh-
Kujang, it is hardly 2-3 miles broad. Higher up around Hookitola
and Falsepoint the band widens to a breadth of 8 or 10 miles. The
tract is typical of deltaic swamps and consists largely of low marshy
saline islands interlaced by a network of creeks and rivers. These
islands are formed from accumulation of silt deposits brought down
by many rivers of the Mahanadhi delta, and subsequently stabilized
by the mangrove tidal forests that spring up. The older and higher
group of the inside islands is often free from inundation at High
tide and subject to partial inundation only at spring tides. On the
Western boundary, on the landward sides, the high ground
gradually merges into the cultivated alluvial formations behind.”
II. Record of dependency of residents on forests.
17. In the settlement report of 1893 the following are the
important revenue yielding forests supplying fuel and wood for building
purposes of the residents of the estate :-
1. Piasal Ptero carpus marsupium
2. Sisu Dalbergia latifolia
3. Kendu Diopyros melanoxylon
4. Kurum Adina cardiflora
5. Suam Soymida febrifuga
6. Gambhari Gmelinaar arborea
7. Tinia Albizzia lebbeck and
procera
8. Asan Terminalia tomentosa