Forest agency proposes model plan for mining in State

The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) has set up the Centre for Mining Area Rehabilitation (CMAR) on the premises of the Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST) to reclaim the land damaged ecologically due to mining.

The institute will be headed by an IFS officer and at present comprises four scientists who will focus on recovering the forest land damaged due to reckless mining.

Dr V K Bahuguna, Director General of ICFRE, said that the institute which started functioning in October 2011 had come up with a model plan for mining in the State.

The plan will be submitted to the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), he said.
The model, which aims to ensure sustainable development in the State, will be submitted along with the report on mining in Chitradurga, Tumkur and Bellary.

Rubbishing reports that ICFRE had suggested open cast mining in Western Ghats, he said it had only suggested a feasibility study on underground mining. Citing Stockholm’s example, the capital of Sweden, he said the City stood on an underground mine.

“As steel is necessary for the country’s development, we suggested that a feasibility study be conducted in the Western Ghats, which has rich iron ore reserves,” he added.

M C Joshi, director of IWST, said CMAR was set up during the Bellary crisis, when scientists from IWST were a part of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) team in the mining affected areas. “After the EIA study, we felt the need for CMAR and the available resources were used to set up the centre.

Joint forest management

To ensure that its contribution to the country in forestry research, education and extension reached the people, ICFRE has brought out a book titled, ‘Forestry in the service of the nation: ICFRE technologies’.

The book, according to Bahuguna, provides a comprehensive view of technologies developed by ICFRE and its institutions across the country. It presents an in-depth discussion on research and extension activities of the council and its contribution to environmental management. Community participation through joint forestry management (JFM) and agro forestry and the role of ICFRE has been highlighted in the book.

To a query on Karnataka’s position in joint forest management, he said that about 21 per cent of the State’s forests are covered under JFM and 2.7 lakh families are involved in it. With a national average of forest cover under JFM being 24 per cent, 99 lakh families are involved in it, he added.

He said that the State was ranked seventh in terms of achieving the objectives of the joint forest management programme, while Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were ranked first, second and third respectively.