Bamboo in Orissa: Trade and Livelihood Perspective - Vasundhara

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purchased from OFDC. Similarly, long-term lease agreements, a major demand of paper
mills, were not signed although the RMP system continued for several years 8 .
Revival of the cutting operations
The plight of bamboo cutters had been discussed in the state legislative assembly and the
government always tried to emphasise that it was due to the restriction of the Central
Government that the operations could not be started.
In December 2003, the then forest minister of Orissa said in the legislative assembly that
although tenders had been invited for bamboo working in forest divisions having valid
working plans, operations could not be resumed as the Central Government asked for
certain clarifications. He further assured the house that the required clarifications had been
submitted, and hence operations would be resumed (The Samaj,19-12-03, p.9).
In 2004, several new developments coincided each other facilitating revival of the bamboo
cutting operations. On 5 th February that year, the govt requested Mr.Vinod Kumar,IFS,
then Director(Operations), OFDC to prepare a scheme for working out bamboo
overlapping circles of the forest divisions where working plans had expired. Accordingly
Mr. Kumar prepared a consolidated Working Scheme for the concerned forest divisions
and submitted the same on 30 th April’04. This scheme was valid for 2004-05 to 2007-08 so
that bamboo coupes can be worked out on the basis of a 4-year cycle.
On 28-7-04 the state government requested the Central CCF, Ministry of Env. & Forest,
Govt of India to approve this working scheme. Although the Ministry was not satisfied
with the said document, still on 27th August it allowed bamboo working on condition of
the following:
• The approval would be valid upto 30th April'05.
• Adequate measures should be taken to ensure conservation and sustainable
exploitation of bamboo clumps.
• The approval would be extended for another year provided the state government
furnished baseline data on treatment types(A,B,C) and quality classes(I,II,III) 9 that
was lacking in the working scheme and was vital for consideration for approval of
the scheme.
8 The GM, JK Crops(Bhubaneswar office) wrote to the MD, OFDC on 16-9-1997 to implement the long-term
lease agreement for 12 years as was originally mentioned in the govt order of 8.10.1993.
9 Type A and B have well-stocked clumps, but whereas in 'A' the clumps are healthy, in 'B' they are partially
damaged (burnt, etc.) or degraded. Accordingly, it is decided whether commercial operations can be allowed,
and if so, then to what extent. For instance, type C implies to clumps in such a condition that commercial
exploitation is not allowed therein. As regards quality classes, class III contains culms below 6 metre in
height as against those between 6 to 9 m. in class II and 9 m or above in class I. Minimum number of culms
to be retained in three different quality classes of clumps are fixed in the Working Plans(Singh B., Revised
Working Plan for the RFs and DPFs of Angul Forest Divn.:1990-91 to 1999-2000, pp.546-47).
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