4,232 hectares covered by Forest Management Workshop in Thane Division
Nasser Lalljee

TO protect the forests of India with active participation of the people, the Government of India launched the Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme in every village having forests, a joint forest management committee has to be formed with members from the village panchayats and local inhabitants. An important plank of the programme is the women’s participation. This unit is under the supervision of one forester who as the secretary of the committee. The function of this committee is to organise management and the protection of the forest in and around the villages,” re Ak jha, conservator of Forest Division, Thane Circle.

In the Maharashtra Forest Project that ended in 2000, 602villages were covered under the JFM and grant protection to about two lakh hectares, “Sixty hectares are planted in every village with selective species of plant life in consultation with the villagers. They are then managed as per the micro plan prepared with the inputs by the villagers. For the supply of fodder, fuel wood, timber, etc., which are the basic needs of the villagers,” Jha informs.

In the Thane circle itself the scheme has been implemented in 119 villages, and the area planted under the scheme is 4,232 hectares. The district is being considered for further plantations in the second phase of the Maharashtra Forest Project for expanding the scheme to cover more villages with poverty alleviation being the main thrust.

The forest cover of Thane has many species of trees of which 16 are categorized as scheduled trees and therefore protected. These are teak, ain, bamboo, khair (the richest source of Kath, the main ingredient in the making of ghutka), mango, jackfruit, hirds, maua, tamarind, bija, tewas, jhambool and mangroves, which cannot be cut without permission of the concerned authorities.

The forest cover in turn is home to a wide variety of wild life like Hyena, wildcat, wild boar, panthers, foxes, cheetah, sambar, barking Deer, monkeys, rabbits, porcupines and more than 100 species of birds.

There is no doubt that the increase of forest cover will in increase the wild life population in Thane district which in turn can be converted in to sanctuaries and encourage eco tourism like it has in Bhandipur and other areas.

According to the programme, 50 per cent of the plantations go to the villagers and the government claims the remaining 50 per cent. Intermittent yields from the plantations like grass and fruits are given to the villagers in exchange of protection they provide to the forests and preventing illegal tree felling and fires.