Sinapali: While the state government is locked in a bitter battle with Chhatisgarh over construction of multiple barrages on the Mahanadi upstream, villagers here in Nuapada district and their counterparts in Chhattisgarh have joined hands for forest protection.
The villagers of Golabada in Nangajbod panchayat under this block and their counterparts in Banuaguda village on the fringes of the district have taken up cudgels to protect Chapej and Luhakhandi forests adjoining their villages.
Villagers have set aside their differences and have joined hands to protect the jungle even though they hail from different states.
They have formed small teams among themselves to save these two forests from timber smugglers and poachers. Each of the team members is armed with lathis and guard the forest on a rotation basis day and night.
They have built a hut near the forest which serves as a rest house as well as a place for planning on forest protection. The villagers by joining hands to protect the jungle have set a unique example for others to emulate.
This has come at a time when forest protection has become a cause of concern with the government formulating various schemes and employing several forest officials for the purpose.
However, this has failed to address the needs as forest cover gets depleted day by day with poachers and timber smugglers having a field day. Mindless destruction of forest cover has forced wild animals to stray into human habitats and man-animal conflicts.
Sources said there was a time when both jungles had a luscious cover and various wild animals and birds.
However, trees started vanishing from both the jungles after timber smugglers started chopping trees and sell them outside at a premium.
Forest officials did not act on the timber smugglers and have kept mum on their activities following which the forest started losing its cover. The depletion of forest cover hit the villagers hard who collected minor forest produce for their livelihood.
Both the villagers joined hands and formed a forest protection committee in 2012. The membership of the committee grew and now it stands at 60.
Recently, the committee seized 185 tonnes of timbers while they were being smuggled and handed over 200 pieces of logs to the forest department, Currently, timber smugglers have stopped entering the jungles which has helped in restoring the lost green cover of the twin forests. PNN
