Forestry Planning in Haryana, Particularly in Shiwaliks and the Aravalis

One of the important duties of the executive staff of Haryana Forest Department is protection of Reserved Forests, Protected Forests, Unclassed Forests, Wild Life sanctuaries, National Parks and areas notified under Section 4 & Section 5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900. The offenders, encroachers, graziers and illicit fellers etc. are issued damage reports and asked to pay compensation + the price of the forest produce. Failure to pay compensation plus the price of the forest produce entails prosecution of the offenders in the Environment Courts at Hisar and Faridabad. There are nine Wild life Sanctuaries and two National parks namely Kalesar National Park and Sultanpur National Park. Hunting is totally prohibited in the state. In all the Wildlife sanctuaries/National Parks in the State of Haryana and elsewhere in the entire country, no felling of trees is permissible, even of dead and dry trees. Thus no human activities/interference is permitted in any Wildlife Sanctuary/National Park. Keeping in view these concerns it is important that conservation of water resources and access of water to the people is ensured. Also there is no mention of tackling the problem of water -logging in the State of Haryana either in the act or under any rules made by the government Since the forests and the tree cover helps in recharge of ground water, this aspect needs to be given a fair trial in the perspective planning. As far as the surface water is concerned the supplies of utilizable surface water are at about 35% of the total available run-off. So it is necessary to augment the available resources to the maximum possible extent. The need is to develop surface-irrigation sources, harvest rainwater, and prevent run- off. The run-off can be tapped by building appropriate water-harvesting structures in the lower reaches especially during June-November when the rivers generally carry water in excess of 90%. The concept of watershed development which effectively contributes to the revival of local traditional water control works has also to be adopted more rigorously and should be integrated with the perspective forestry planning in Haryana, particularly in Shiwaliks and the Aravalis. Research in biotechnology has helped various sectors. Stem Cell biology and its applications, molecular probes for oral cancer, genetic based vaccines, molecular taxonomy and integrated nutrient management programmes have faired well. Several packages for bio-fertilizers, plant tissue culture protocols and bioremediation technologies have also been given to industries for commercialization. Biotechnology research and development will further help in the spheres of agriculture, health, environment and industry. Biotechnology is poised for rapid advance in emerging areas like gene therapy and functional genomics, environmental pollution abatement etc. Therefore all efforts of perspective forestry planning shall remain incomplete if no attention is paid to make use of biotechnology in the forestry sector like in development of better clones and improved planting stock etc. Forest Department experimented with many mechanical instruments for felling. Power chain saws, operated by petrol as well as electricity were used but because of weight and vibration, labourers get tired within short time. Also it did not prove to be cost-efficient. In our labour surplus country, large-scale mechanization of forestry operations were neither encouraged nor proved to be effective. Transportation of forest produce by tractor-trolleys and sawing of wood by saws are the only basic operation done through machines. In service training is regularly imparted to Forest Guards, Foresters and Deputy Rangers in the training centres located at Forest Complex Pinjore and Natural Resource Management Center Sohna. Generally, there are 30 trainees in one batch. Systematic classroom training is being imparted by senior. Officers and Range Forest Officers. For the Foresters and Deputy. Rangers, the total duration of training is 11 monts. In this way, one batch gets training every year. For the Forest Guards the duration of training is 5.5 months. In this way, two batches get training every year in Sohna and two batches get training every year in Pinjore. The Shiwalik Himalayas have been the source of a large number of valuable medicinal plants and a repeated mention of “Kalika Kashetra” is observed in Sanskrit/ Ayurvedic texts for its valuable medicinal plant wealth. A number of dealers locally known as Pansari’s are settled in the Kalka locality of the Panchkula district and deal in the retail, wholesale and export of medicinal plants collected from the Haryana Shiwalik forests (besides procuring these resources from the neighbouring State of Himachal Pradesh). At least 40 species of medicinal plants have been noticed to be extracted from the forests of these regions. Not only the local traders get them extracted legally or illicitly, but also a number of herbal dealers of Dehradun , Saharanpur (U.P.) and Poanta ( H.P.) areas get huge quantities of various medicinal plants collected at very cheap rates from these forests. However, the extraction of these resources are not being regulated by the Forest department for their revenue generation activities. There are atleast 40 Hill Resource Management Societies (HRMS) functioning in Panchkula district only, who resort to occasional collection of these economically important resources and sell them at very cheap rates to local and outside dealers. Few of the medicinal plants such as Acorus calamus, Agave sp., Aloe sp., Berberis sp.,Catharanthes roseus, Datura metel, Datura stramonium, Dioscorea sp, Silybum marianum etc. occurring in the Shivaliks are in high demand abroad and are being exported. Table 1 enlists some common medicinal plants found in the Shiwalik belt of Haryana, which are being commercially exploited by the private traders of Haryana and adjoining states with the help of local communities. Herbal Farming in Haryana Table 1. Medicinal Plants found in Shiwalik Forests _______________ .

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