All rights reserved by VASUNDHARA(www.vasundharaorissa.org). For any clarification, contact author at sunlit1968@yahoo.co.<strong>in</strong> While the concerned authorities at Forest Department headquarters at Bhubaneswar have not been able to clarify the st<strong>and</strong> of the govt regard<strong>in</strong>g bamboo cutt<strong>in</strong>g operations <strong>in</strong> JFM areas, it has been reported from Athagarh Forest Division that at Khajuria under Nars<strong>in</strong>ghpur East Range a system was adopted accord<strong>in</strong>g to which the bamboo harvested by the VSS members was auctioned, <strong>and</strong> both the expenses as well as the <strong>in</strong>come were shared by the Forest Department <strong>and</strong> the VSS committee at 50:50 ratio (per comm.., Kishore Kumar Parida). The Khajuria model Maa Bauti Vana Samrakshan Samiti(VSS) was formed <strong>in</strong> Khajuria <strong>in</strong> 1994, but villagers had themselves started protect<strong>in</strong>g the local forest by 1991 after they found the same heavily degraded under the pressure of several villages. The area under their protection now is part(252.5 acres) of the Debhu<strong>in</strong> RF <strong>and</strong> 47.5 acres of the Madara khesra forest. <strong>Bamboo</strong> clumps, mostly of salia, are concentrated almost <strong>in</strong> the RF part. In 1998, gregarious flower<strong>in</strong>g was observed <strong>in</strong> the bamboo forest; so necessity was felt for the fell<strong>in</strong>g of the affected clumps(7821 salia <strong>and</strong> 8534 daba). This was followed by uproot<strong>in</strong>g of several clumps(223 salia <strong>and</strong> 558 daba) <strong>in</strong> the 1999 super-cyclone. The villagers wanted the Forest Department to facilitate the harvest<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> market<strong>in</strong>g of these clumps/culms dur<strong>in</strong>g 2000-01, but the latter first approached OFDC with a proposal for harvest<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> got a negative response as the Corporation said flowered culms would not be economical. The villagers were gett<strong>in</strong>g impatient, particularly after some traders approached them to purchase the bamboo. Hence, <strong>in</strong> a resolution adopted on 28-4-01, the 'villagers' decided that s<strong>in</strong>ce Forest Department was difficult to be motivated, private traders would be allowed to harvest <strong>and</strong> purchase the bamboo on their own <strong>in</strong> lieu of a payment @Rs.2000/truckload, to the VSS. There was no quantitative specification for a truckload. Moreover, certa<strong>in</strong> other decisions were quite controversial (like, shar<strong>in</strong>g of some expenses by the VSS). After our <strong>in</strong>teraction with the villagers, it was quite clear that the resolution was adopted without proper consultation with the whole village, <strong>and</strong> few <strong>in</strong>dividuals designed the whole th<strong>in</strong>g, be<strong>in</strong>g unclear about the market price of bamboo(long). There were four traders who were to purchase the bamboo, <strong>and</strong> they paid Rs.4000 towards advance. However, there was some conflict among them after which they did not turn up <strong>in</strong> time; hence the help of Forest Department was aga<strong>in</strong> felt necessary. The local DFO then approached the PCCF who <strong>in</strong> turn allowed, <strong>in</strong> 2003, to work out <strong>and</strong> auction the bamboo. The VSS agreed to share both the expenses <strong>and</strong> profit on 50:50 basis with the Department, <strong>and</strong> it was also agreed upon that villagers of Khajuria would be employed as cutters on priority basis, s<strong>in</strong>ce it was feared that other people might resort to <strong>in</strong>adequate cutt<strong>in</strong>g practices. In the meantime, traders who had paid advance got their money refunded from the villagers. F<strong>in</strong>ally, a part of the available stock <strong>in</strong> the forest was harvested <strong>in</strong> 2003 <strong>and</strong> total 36100 culms were disposed through public auction while 287772 culms still rema<strong>in</strong>ed for harvest<strong>in</strong>g. most of the cutters belonged to Khajuria <strong>and</strong> only few came from outside. They were paid @Re.1 to 3 per culm towards cutt<strong>in</strong>g, dragg<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> stack<strong>in</strong>g charges, on the basis of the distance of the clumps(like, highest was paid for clumps on hills). Labour charges for transport<strong>in</strong>g the bamboo from the harvest<strong>in</strong>g site to the 'depot' was additional, i.e., about Rs.7/culm. Total cost of production thus came to be Rs.12 to 14 per culm, <strong>and</strong> accumulated to an amount of Rs.1,40,000/- <strong>in</strong> the whole bus<strong>in</strong>ess aga<strong>in</strong>st the sale price of Rs.3,63,360/-(this money be<strong>in</strong>g at the disposal of the Forest Department). Of the net profit of Rs.2,23,360/-, VSS was to get 50% as it had equally shared the expenditure. Interaction with the villagers as well as the Forest Department revealed that the labourers as well as the VSS committee were but partially paid, <strong>and</strong> the Department was tak<strong>in</strong>g steps to clear the dues. While the villagers were unhappy with the lack of promptness on the part of the Department, the local forest officials also had some limitations as official consultation with the higher authorities takes time to yield. Still, the Khajuria case can work as a model for bamboo-rich JFM areas <strong>in</strong> the absence of better examples. 21
All rights reserved by VASUNDHARA(www.vasundharaorissa.org). For any clarification, contact author at sunlit1968@yahoo.co.<strong>in</strong> .Officials of Athagarh Forest Divn. are confident enough to say that bamboo coupes <strong>in</strong> RFs can not be worked out directly by OFDC/RMP if the area is under the protection of some VSS. However, their counterparts <strong>in</strong> Kh<strong>and</strong>apara Range Office under Nayagarh Forest Divn. have no such idea s<strong>in</strong>ce they say that there is no official circular or <strong>in</strong>struction perta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g to this. Due to lack of clarification from the authorities, these officials of Kh<strong>and</strong>apara found themselves <strong>in</strong> a dilemma over the issue of proposed bamboo harvest<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Koduanpalli <strong>and</strong> Loharkhani VSS areas. 22
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