SHILLONG: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) Executive Member (EM) in charge of Forest department, Macdalyn Sawkmie Mawlong, said that rubber plantation in Lai lad in Ri Bhoi and Aradonga in West Khasi Hills has been a huge loss to the Council, to the tune of around Rs 10 lakh.
Speaking to The Shillong Times, Mawlong said that rubber plantation was initiated but did not do too well. “The trees have started growing but forest fires and wild elephants have destroyed them”, she said, adding that the funds were not regularly released.
She said that there is an encroachment in Aradonga range and the pillars are also moved.
As for the plantation of trees other than rubber, Mawlong said that the department intends to come up with nursery beds in all the plantations under the jurisdiction of the Council. She further informed that there will be an open tender for the highest bidder for the nursery beds, which will also be transparent.
Stating that the forests under District Council are spread across more than 1200 hectares, Mawlong said that the department is waiting for the funding from the 15th Finance Commission for planting trees again.
“There is encroachment in the plantations as most of the trees are getting chopped down by miscreants. We should have a proper boundary wall or barbed wire”, she said.
Meanwhile, the Forest department of the Council has initiated a working scheme with the state and private forests in West Khasi Hills and also submitted to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. However, approval for the same is pending.
The first phase will be done in 14 villages and aims at scientific management for felling trees so that it is not random. It aims to cut down trees as per the needs of the people so as to make it sustainable in the long run.
“A sapling should be planted if a tree is cut down. The target of the department is not necessarily revenue but to preserve and conserve the forest cover”, Mawlong said.