Our Spl Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The north-eastern region including Meghalaya with its dense forest cover is often considered as the last vestige of hope for the whole country as far as forest cover is concerned. But it seems all is not well and hopes for maintaining the forest cover seem to be dwindling with large-scale tree felling and clearing of vast tracts of bamboo plantation, according to latest reports.
As per the Forest Survey of India (FSI)’s biennial state of forests report, there is an increase in tree cover in as many as 76 sq km area mainly in dense forests in Meghalaya.
However, a report quoting a top official of the FSI involved in the study said there is massive overstatement of forest cover in the country. There are also camouflaged figures of superficial bamboo foliage coverage, the official who was involved in the survey in Meghalaya said.
The official maintained that the actual forests are being wiped out and the Forest Survey of India is mistakenly dishing out a rosy picture of the increasing forest coverage.
With two national parks, three sanctuaries and one Biosphere reserve, Meghalaya has eight types of forest in as many as 20,000 sq km area spread over its seven districts, mainly in Garo Hills.
Forest cover assessment is measured through satellite computer images but the field visits have verified that the green felling on the ground has gone completely undetected in the interpretation of satellite imageries, the official said. Some of the past State of Forest Reports (SFRs) had mentioned an impressive increase in the forest cover of some states even when several reserved forests had been completely destroyed.
There is a gaping hole on the ground measuring close to 15 sq km had been missed by the Forest Survey of India’s “high tech satellite interpretation centre”.
The official who has himself made various field forest visits in Garo Hills of Meghalaya and other states had discovered number of stumps of Teak and Sal trees all over these forests.
The Forest Survey of India’s team of officers has discovered an “enormous” felling of trees over several square kms of area in Dibru hills of Meghalaya and a uniform regeneration of bamboo shrubbery around the stumps of already cut trees, the report said.
Surprisingly the State Department of Forests got a whopping Rs 168 crore from the 13th Finance Commission in recognition of the increase in its forest cover even when reserved and conventional forests are being put to the axe, he said.
There are also instances of large scale timber smuggling from Meghalaya to neighboring Bangladesh. In one incident even a BSF truck laden with such felled trees was seized before the vehicle could make its way across the border.
The satellite sensors picked the wild bamboo as forest cover and missed out the trees felled in tens of thousands, of acres of forestland. The coming report due early next year will also paint the same picture since the ground felling would not be deducted in the tiny computer screens of the Dehradun-based institute and the overall farce forest cover would keep increasing, the report added.