Bamboo sector in for a big boost

Hyderabad: In tune with the State government’s policy to give a fillip to the rural economy and to provide income to the farmers, the Department of Forests (DoF) has relaxed rules of growing and cutting Bamboo.

According to forest department officials, the relaxation has come in the form of exempting the Bamboo, along with several other species from the Forest Transit Regime (FTR). However, this is not applicable in case of forest areas in the State, said a senior official.

As per the Telangana Forest Produce Transit Rules (TFPTR), 1970, cutting and transporting the notified trees needs prior permission from the DoF. However, there are also exemptions given to the species listed under Rule 16, of the Schedules II and III of the rules. While 20 species of trees were listed under schedule II, there are certain fruits and seed (NTFP) of forest species that had been exempted earlier.

However, the restrictions imposed have been putting lot of pressure on the forest wealth in the state to meet the needs. It was against this backdrop that the State government has decided to reduce the pressure on the existing forest cover and to allow production of wood outside the forest areas to meet the domestic, industrial and other needs, the official said.

In line with this decision, the list of expected species under schedule II has been increased from the existing 20 to 40 species. Accordingly, some of the species like Bamboo, Eucalyptus, Casuarinas, Subabul, Semathumma, Ashoka, Thadi, Coconut, Cashew, Seemachintha, Raintree and imported timber species not grown in India were among those exempted.

However, the Mango tree is exempted in all the districts of the State, except in the scheduled areas and in Nalgonda district. Also, Panasa is also exempted in all the districts expect in the scheduled areas. A senior official from the DoF said that most of the species exempted are grown in the rural areas and sold to generate additional income. For example, bamboo can plant easily, and the harvesting time is six years.

And, farmers adopting certain techniques can cut bamboo at any time in a year, except during the raining season and sell the same every year. This way it provides additional income for about 20 years, which will help to meet the input costs of the farmers to some extent, he added.

“This will help in on the one hand farmers generating additional income, increasing the wood production in the non-forest areas to meet the demands of the industries, construction sector, and domestic needs. Also, it would greatly reduce the pressure on the existing forest areas and to give a fillip to the objective of the State government’s flagship programme of Telanganaku Haritha Haram,” the officials said.

By: V R C Phaniharan