AVARICIOUS contractors, with the active connivance of forest officials and the local people, have indiscriminately felled teak trees in each of the 412 ha of the Mahadapur reserve forest. According to V B Salunke of GGP, at least 2 cartloads of teak wood from the forest has been taken to a brick kiln in the neighbouring village of Matharjun every day for the past 15 years.

Salunke, with help from the villagers, has been successful in preventing owners of the kiln from entering the village. But he fears that surreptitious felling and smuggling continues.

Some encroached forest as well as private land in Mahadapur have also been used for cultivation, and the teak trees on the land have been cut. Ayyachinnu Kumre, a Mahadapur resident, who farms 1.6 ha of encroached forest, says he has axed more than 20 teak trees over the past 6 years because the shade from these trees reduced his cotton yield considerably. He has, however, planted some mahua trees which do not affect the cotton yield and ensure additional income from the sale of flowers and seeds.

Salunke alleges that no regeneration has been undertaken because "for these people the cutting of trees involves no cost". For Beema Rao Naga Athram, a farmer, using teak to construct cattle sheds is no big deal since he gets the timber from the forest. After all, the forest is big; and what difference does cutting a few trees make?

The local people also axe valuable trees like treka for fuelwood. Salunke says that if a sufficient quantity of biomass is generated in the village, people would not need to go into the forest to collect fuelwood.

According to regulations, a teak tree can only be cut after it attains a girth of 60 centimetres, which usually takes about 30 years. But after getting such a clearance, the contractors fell other trees as well, complains Salunke. They also take advantage of the villagers' unfamiliarity with legal formalities, and buy teak trees from them for a pittance. In December 1993, for instance, a resident sold 150 teak trees for a paltry Rs 15,000.

A way out of the stranglehold of the contractors is suggested by Mahadapur's primary school teacher, Jaisingh Pure, who says, "If the government permits local people to use the forest resources for their own needs, they will be more committed to protect them."