The State Government has been allotting special financial package to the forest and environment department for sustainable and progressive management of forest and environment over the years but in practice, not much change is noticed.
Odisha has a total of 48,855 sqkm of forest. It is 31.38 per cent of its landmass, whereas the country has 690, 899 sqkm of forests, amounting to 21.02 per cent of landmass. Besides, there are 4,852 sqkm of scrub forests in the State. Every year, the financial allocation for the management of forest and environment of the State has been pretty good. Sometime, it is to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees.
This amount is spent on a plethora of activities starting from field level work management to salary of the staff. There are several schemes of the State, Centre and international bodies for the management and development of forest resources in the State. The budget allocation most often creates confusion with regard to area wise allotment of funds in the department. Forest management involves a complex set of things. Besides, many forest tribes are residing within forest lands and it is not known what percentage of budgetary provision is being spent for the income generation of the economically poor class. So far no white paper on the subject has ever been published by the Government.
Since there are a large number of tasks to be done by the forest and environment department, it has to coordinate its activities with several other departments like ST and SC Development (SSD), Panchayati Raj, Water Resources, Agriculture, Steel and Mines, Information and Public Relations, Science and Technology, Rural Development, Tourism and Culture and School and Mass Education etc. There should be a commissioner to marshal progressive thoughts and planning in the field of execution of schemes in the department. Unfortunately, there is no marshalling of the tasks in the grass root levels, a reason why most plans have failed.
During the tenure of former Chief Secretary Bijay Patnaik, the senior Secretaries were assigned to move within the revenue districts allotted to them for proper verification of developmental works. The misutilisation and siphoning of public funds and properties can besically be detected and minimized through active participation of the overseers.
The Revenue and Disaster Management is a vital ally in the forest and environment management. The sea- based disasters like cyclone can be mitigated through well protection and management of mangrove forests and sea - shore forests. The multistory forests along sea - shore and in river mouths protect the human population in the coastal belts.
Mangrove plants are salt tolerant ecological systems in the tropical and sub- tropical regions of inter tidal lands. Such forest extends from a few metre to several kilometers. Similarly, the multistory forests within the main land prevent tornadoes and cyclones and check their ferocity by retarding the wind speed.
The scrub forests can be converted into strong ecological systems provided there is no human interference. In Odisha there are 7,073 sqkm very dense forests, 21,294 sqkm of moderately dense and 20,388 sqkm of open forests. Similarly, there are 82 sqkm of dense mangrove, 97 sqkm of moderately dense mangrove and 42 sqkm of open mangrove forests in the State.
In total, they spread over 221 sqkm of mangrove land. The mangroves have unique character like salt tolerant, evergreen broad leaf plants. In India, the mangrove forest occupies a total of 4,639 sqkm of land. Whereas West Bengal occupies alone a majority of 2,152 sqkm of forest, it is followed by Gujarat with 1,046 sqkm and Adhra Pradesh with 353 sqkm. Gujarat, Andaman and Nicober Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Maharastra and other coastal States are more prone to sea based disasters and it is there that the mangrove forests play a crucial role in protecting the residents.
The State Government has been patted on the back by international bodies for proper management of cyclone Phailin. Timely and judicious planning to meet the cyclone saved many lives and properties.
However, in terms of permanent measures to tackle the natural disasters, the Government has done little. It has to generate new mangroves and protect the existing patches for tackling the sea threats.
The development of the STs and SCs is impossible without sustainable development of forests. The forests are the habitat of a large section of scheduled tribes and forest dwellers.
As a result, the forest and SSD departments have to cooridinate their schemes to ensure that the forests grow along with the development of the dwellers. They have to take up joint operations to achieve the desired results.
Another vital department is the culture and tourism department. The ecotourism plan cannot be executed properly without the cooperation of the forest department. Hence, they need to devise common action plan for systematic and disciplinary operations.
The steel and mines cannot also work efficiently in isolation. It has to coordinate with the forest and environment department too. The arbitrary exploitation of minerals not only creates large scale devastation of the State’s forest and ecology but also leads to colossal loots.
Hence, the police, State intelligence organisations, forest, revenue, steel and mines and all other stakeholders have to work in tandem so that proper and productive utilisation of forest and minerals is made.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist)