Waste of precious wood at Aranya Bhavana

Govt Sandal-wood Oil Factory is not getting enough wood

Many are still depending upon the firewood for making up the deficit that costs nearly Rs10 for a bundle of 2 kgs of dried twigs and branches brought into the city.

The Green India Mission has called tribals, villagers and other poor people as ‘drivers of degradation’ since they mostly depend upon wood and other forest produces for their livelihood,  Mysore Grahakara Parishath has lodged its strong protest and has demanded deletion of such words from the mission statement.

Paradoxically, a look at the Aranya Bhavana premises reveals a shocking degradation scenario.

Thousands of tonnes of valuable wood is decaying under the very nose of the protectors of forest.  Termites and other insects are destroying the stored wood lots, said a release from social activist Vasanthakumar Mysoremath of Mysore Grahakara Parishath.

It is understood that these are confiscated from smugglers and illegal transporters and include teak, rose, sandal, honne and other species and are worth crores of rupees; cases are pending in courts for more than a decade. Even court case numbers have been painted on these lots and they are stored because when the case comes up for hearing, the wood lot has to be produced as evidence, said the release.

Is this the way to treat scarce natural resources? Is it that difficult to get a nominated court officer to visit Aranya Bhavan for an on the spot mahazar of material evidence stored for court purpose? Instead of allowing such stored wood to decay and loose its value, the department could have sought permission of the court to dispose off the same when they are in good condition so that a sizeable revenue could have accrued to the treasury, he said in the release.

The nearby Government Sandalwood Oil Factory is making a hand to mouth living due to non-availability of sandalwood whereas a sizeable quantity of sandalwood is strewn in Aranya Bhavan premises in the open, thereby loosing its quality and quantity with efflux of time.

It is hoped that this forest wealth will be put to some use before it becomes dust due to efflux of time, callousness of the authorities concerned and delay in judicial processes, said the release.