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Centre urged to constitute Institute of Forests
State government has written to the Centre to set up an expert institute of forests to carryout wood balance Study (WBS). According to the State Forest Department sources, it was way back in 2007 that such proposal had been sent to the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to carry out the study. However, the same had been rejected because the scope for study fell outside the forest areas.
Hyderabad: State government has written to the Centre to set up an expert institute of forests to carryout wood balance Study (WBS). According to the State Forest Department sources, it was way back in 2007 that such proposal had been sent to the Forest Survey of India (FSI) to carry out the study. However, the same had been rejected because the scope for study fell outside the forest areas.
- State government has sought the organisation to carry out ‘wood balance study’
- The WBS will help the State assess the wood demand, quantum of raw wood imports from abroad and the resources in the State
As of now, there are about 2,500 licensed sawmills operating in the State and majority of raw material that comes to these mills is from the exempted species like Subabul, Eucalyptus, etc. And, the production and logging wing of the Forest Department is engaged in only cleaning and conserving bamboo located in the non-reserved forest areas.
Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official said nearly 90 per cent of the wood requirements in the State are being met from the imports from outside. In particular, Burma Teak from abroad and teak from the States like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, he said.
Adding further, he pointed out that “Unlike in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and to some extent in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Telangana State does not have matured plantations for commercial use.” This made the State totally dependent on foreign and domestic imports.
It was against this backdrop that the State Forest Department in line with the government’s direction of planned development, protection and conservation of forest resources wanted to carry out the WBS.
The government’s flagship programme of ‘Haritha Haram’ is to take care of protection and conservation as the first priority of the State’s Forest Policy (SFP). However, at the same time, the WBS helps in assessing the wood demand, quantum of raw wood imports from abroad and India and the state wood resources.
Once the WBS is carried out, then the department would be in a position to figure out the scope for setting up wood-based industries in the State and giving licenses to more sawmills and other micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) units to manufacture value added wood products.
But, considering the experience of FSI rejecting an earlier proposal in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, it was decided to ask the Center to name an expert institution in the wood and forestry like those located in Bangalore and Chennai, to carry out the WBS.
By VRC Phaniharan
