|
OFFTRACK: BARBARA, ORISSA
Green Berets
Dying
forests are resuscitated by a protective paramilitary force
By Ruben Banerjee
Birds
chirp, leopards roar, wild boars grunt and woodpeckers screech. In the
stillness of the dense jungles of Barbara in Orissa's Khurda district,
these are the familiar rumblings of nature waking up to a new day. Suddenly,
you hear a sound alien to the jungle reverberating in the quiet of dawn:
the thud thud thud of boots. A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) company
armed with AK-47s and self-loading carbines is marching by.
 |
|
FOREST
COVER: Timber smugglers caught by the CRPF while making off with the
day's booty
|
|
The jawans have been around for some years now.
Barbara, surrounded by picturesque hills and barely a two-hour drive from
Bhubaneswar, is an unusual war zone. There are no terrorists here, no
insurgents. Fuelled by a rising need of logs for construction, a clutch
of timber smugglers has been targeting the forests, plundering its teak,
sal and asan. It is this mafia that the CRPF has been fighting. It's a
battle to protect the endangered ecosystem and restore the region's lush-green
cover.
It was in late 1993 that the then state chief
minister Biju Patnaik mooted the idea of seeking help from the paramilitary
force. Though overstretched-over 84 per cent of its personnel are doing
battle duty in troubled spots across the country-the CRPF readily agreed
and hasn't once regretted the decision.
"It's a laudatory experiment that's already
fetching rich dividends," says D.G. Mohapatra, the CRPF spokesman.
In contrast to its usual skirmish-ridden life, the CRPF's new front in
Barbara is rather staid. Chasing and catching timber smugglers, armed
at best with country-made weapons, is far easier than matching firepower
with insurgents. But this in no way dilutes their achievement: after the
CRPF took over the patrolling in Barbara, the 350 sq km forest has sprung
back to life.
For the CRPF, often accused of high-handedness
and civil- rights abuses, the Barbara initiative could be just one effort
to underline its commitment to mankind and nature. Whatever the purpose,
there is no denying the gains. "A pristine forest with a rich biodiversity,
which in terms of money would be worth more than Rs 20,000 crore, has
been saved from virtual extinction," testifies Sanjeev Chaddha, the
divisional forest officer of Khurda, under whose jurisdiction Barbara
falls.
The Forest Department, of course, is only too
happy to have the armed force patrolling the forests. With its policing
powers restricted-forest officials in the state cannot open fire even
though timber smugglers may be heavily armed-Orissa had been fighting
a losing battle till the CRPF arrived.
In an operation of this sort which could affect
the lives of a lot of people, there was certain to be some resentment.
An NGO has raised the issue of how the CRPF's intervention denies villagers
free access to the forest. There are others who insist that armed policing
by the CRPF is against the basic principles of community participation
in forest protection. But in the face of the harsh ground realities in
Barbara, such criticisms lack conviction. Most locals too made their living
by felling trees illegally and refused to accept the need to conserve
forests. Smugglers from neighbouring districts like Nayagarh and Ganjam
also ventured regularly into Barbara to make a quick killing. They have
now been deterred by the presence of the CRPF. In the past couple of years,
900 smugglers have been arrested and around 40 illegal saw mills operating
in the vicinity of the forest have been closed down. Timber worth over
Rs 6 crore has been recovered.
As a result, the forest has got a fresh lease
of life and has been rapidly regenerating. It's good news even for Chilika,
Asia's biggest brackish-water lake, just about 35 km away. Barbara is
its prime catchment area and unchecked deforestation and erosion would
have led to the lake getting choked with silt.
True, the jawans will not win any gallantry
awards for their work in Barbara. But they can take pride in what they
do. After all, they are fighting the good fight.
|
METRO TODAY
Web
Exclusives