OTHER DEPARTMENTS

FOREST DEPARTMENT.

Organisation.

Forest department is headed by the Chief Conservator of Forests with headquarters at Poona. For administrative purposes, forest areas of the State have been divided into circles, each in charge of a Conservator of Forests. Forests of Chanda district along with those of Rajura tahsil of old Hyderabad State constitute the present Chandrapur Circle (Forests) controlled by the Conservator of Forests with headquarters at Nagpur.

Before the merger of ex-proprietary forests in April 1951. the area was divided into two divisions controlled by Divisional Forest Officer, North Chandrapur Division and Divisional Forests Officer, South Chandrapur Division, respectively. After the merger of ex-proprietary forests a third division, viz., Last Chandrapur Division was constituted. All these divisions formed part of the Nagpur Circle. In 1959, to cope up with the increased pressure of work, the area of the Nagpur Circle was split up and a separate controlling unit for Chandrapur district was created. Soon after, this measure also was felt inadequate and further division of the circle into six divisions was carried out. These six divisions are each in charge of a Divisional Forest Officer. Besides, there are four more divisions, two divisions looking after the preparation of Working Plans, one division entrusted with the Ballarshah integrated unit and timber depot and a special division for the execution of exploitation work in areas earmarked for the purpose of refugee rehabilitation. Rajura sub-division which is contiguous to this district was carved out of the territory of the ex-Hyderabad State during the State's reorganisation in 1956. Then it formed part of Nanded Forest Division. In 1958 it was detached from Nanded division to form an independent sub-division of Chandrapur Circle. With the formation of revised administrative units in 1964, this sub-division was brought under the jurisdiction of Central Chanda Division.

These divisions are divided into sub-divisions each placed in charge of a Sub-Divisional Forest Officer, who looks after the administration and the management of the sub-division. The sub-divisions are further divided into Ranges, each placed in charge of a Range Forest Officer. Ranges arc further sub-divided into Rounds and Rounds into Beats managed by Round Officers and Beat Guards, respectively.

Below enumerated are the names of ranges in various divisions with their headquarters and area under their jurisdiction after reorganisation of administrative units in 1964:-

1. South Chanda Division - Allapalli Headquarters.

2. Allapalli Division - Allapalli Headquarters.

3. Bhamragarh Division - Allapalli Headquarters.

4. Central Chandrapur Division - Chanda Headquarters.

5. West Chandrapur Division - Chandrapur Headquarters.

6. East Chandrapur Division - Chandrapur Headquarters.

Divisional Forest Officer.

The Divisional Forest Officer is directly responsible for the exploitation and regeneration of the forests according to working plan prescriptions and other orders from the Conservator and the Chief Conservator of Forests. He conducts sale, enters into contracts, realises revenue and controls expenditure and deals finally with forest offence cases.

The Range Forest Officer with the help of Round Officers and Beat Guards is responsible for carrying out all silvicultural works, construction, repairs and maintenance of all buildings, roads, bridges and compounds; transport of material to sale depots and other miscellaneous works in his range

Extent of Forests.

The Forester and Forest Guards mainly look after the protection of the forest growth against damaging factors. They assist the Range Forest Officer in the execution of regular works and in patrolling the forest area.

Chandrapur is the richest district in the State in respect of forest wealth. The district has the largest proportion and extent of forests in Maharashtra. The forests range from well known valuable teak of Allapalli to low quality miscellaneous ones of Warora and are spread over an area of 18,290.58 km² (7,062 sq. miles). The forest area forms 69.99 per cent of the total geographical area of the district as against the average of 17.56 per cent for Maharashtra. The major part of the land covered with forests is plain with some small hillocks scattered here and there. Bigger hills are confined to southern and south-eastern portions of the district only.

Legal Status.

Before 1950. entire forests in the district, which were under the control of the Forest department, constituted Reserved Forests. Yet vast tracts were in private possession of malguzars and zamindars. With the abolition of ex-proprietary rights over these forests in April, 1951, these areas came under Government possession. The proprietary rights over the forests of Aheri Range which were taken on 50 years' lease by Government in July, 1920 also vested in the Government. Most of these forests have now been declared as Protected Forests and measures are now in progress to constitute them as Reserved Forests under chapter II of the Indian Forests Act, 1927. The area under Reserved Forests is 7,560.21 km² (2,919 sq. miles) while that under the Protected Forests is 10,730.37 km² (4,143 sq. miles).

System of Management.

In the natural forests the rule of "Survival of the fittest" prevails unless human agency interferes. Left to themselves the forests under the influence of natural environments which include climate, rainfall, soil conditions and the micro-organisms, may not necessarily have a healthy growth that can be usefully or advantageously employed. Again some of the essential species may not grow in the quantity that would meet the requirements. In such a state, the forests would be more of a liability than an asset. To avoid this situation and also to utilise the forests to the fullest extent, scientific management was applied to these forests after the Forest department under-took control of the forests in 1879. In the beginning the low demand and paucity of trained staff were the main limiting factors in the application of these techniques on a full scale. But with the passage of time, the changed circumstances have permitted the spread of departmental activities on scientific lines. At present the scientific management consists of preparation of working plans for different forest tracts, regeneration of the worked areas and realisation of sustained forest revenue. Depending upon the type of forests, terrain and the demand for forest produce, the following systems are prescribed in different working plans in the district: -

1. Conversion to uniform age by periodic blocks.

2. Selection, improvement or selection-cum-improvement system.

3. Coppice with reserve.

4. Clearfelling and plantations.

5. Bamboo working.

Agencies of Exploitation.

The departmental staff looks after the correct implementation of the working, plan prescriptions. The exploitation of the forests is carried departmentally or through the agency of contractors or societies-

(i) Departmental: Initially departmental agency used to work the interior forests which were very valuable and for which the contractors could not normally come forward. Howere, in course of time the departmental agency was found more profitable and the system is now being adopted in other valuable forest areas. Forests of Allapalli are worked under this system.

(ii) Contractors: This is the main agency working in the forests. It is now being gradually replaced either by the co-operative societies or by the departmental agency.

(iii) Forest Labourers' Co-operative Societies : With the spread of co-operative movement in the country, the Forest department too opened its area for working by the Forest Labourers' Co-operative Societies. Two such societies, viz., Barda and Mul Jungle Kamgar Societies in West Chandrapur Division were established for the first time in 1958-59. In 1965. there were in all 17 societies working in different forest divisions of the district.

Labour.

The bulk of labour to carry out the different forest operations comes from adjoining revenue villages. It was, however, found difficult to procure such labour for working the interior parts of the forests. The department, therefore, established small villages known as forest villages mainly to serve as a source of labour. There are 68 forest villages in the district.

Special Activities.

The department has opened a unit comprising saw-mills. seasoning kilns and a preservation plant at Ballarshah. Its object is to give treatment to secondary timber to enhance its durability and strength and thus introduce it as a substitute for teak whose cost has enormously increased due to shortage of supply. All miscellaneous timber is sawn into popular size. For the purpose of seasoning, it is stacked in the kilns and the shutters are closed and the water vapour is let in the chambers through pipes. The pressure is then controlled and within four to seven hours, depending upon the kind of species, the timber gets seasoned.

The department has also taken up the erection of mechanised logging units as a part of developmental activities under the Five Year Plans. Erection of two such mechanised units is going on at Ballarpur and Allapalli. The object behind such units is to improve the efficiency of logging by doing away with existing outmoded, inefficient and wasteful tools of logging. The mechanised logging would effectively increase the forest output by saving considerable time in felling and conversion of timber.

The department opened a technical school at Chandrapur in 1960 to train staff of the Foresters' rank. The school has arrangement to train 64 students every year. The course is of one year's duration. From 1965, a six monthly refereshers' course for foresters has also been started. Thirty-two students are trained in each term under this course.

The department has also established a national park around Tadoba tank The area of the park is about 194.25 km² (75 sq. miles) and is entirely in the Moharli Range of West Chandrapur Division, it is approachable from Chandrapur and Khad-singi, a small village on Warora road. The entire area was previously a game sanctuary. There is, therefore, abundance of game of various types, viz., tiger, panther, chital, sambhar, chinkara, nilgai, wild pig, bear, porcupine and a variety of birds. In summer when the tank becomes the only water source for the animals in the area, it is a feast to the eyes to sec a variety of animals resting around the tank. The department has also provided for a guest house and a rest house for the visitors wishing to camp in the forest.

The district contributes forest revenue annually to the tune of Rs. 1.60 crores on an average to the exchequer. The expenditure incurred annually on different activities amounts to about Rs. 62 lakhs.

wild Life.

It would not be amiss if here a mention is made of the wild life in which the Chandrapur forests abound. The forests of this district are natural abodes of a variety of wild birds, beasts and reptiles. The most important of these are peacock, jungle fowls, ducks, geese, partridges, pigeons, parrots amongst the birds and tigers, panthers, wolves, hyaenas, bears, wild pigs, bisons, chitals, sambhars, antelopes, chinkaras, nilgais, barking deer amongst the wild beasts.

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