Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

People to be roped in for protecting Marayur reserve

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Protecting a particular stretch of just 14 square kilometres within thousands of square kilometres of protected forests in the State is perhaps the biggest challenge before the Forest Department.

This tiny tract at Marayur holds the best quality sandalwood trees growing in the country. An estimate done by the department a couple of years ago puts the value of the Marayur treasure at more than Rs. 2,000 crore. This treasure lies out in the open, spurring an organised business in smuggling.

According to the Forest Minister Binoy Viswom, strengthening the protection staff at Marayur alone cannot save the precious trees of the area.

On an average, more than 2,000 trees used to be uprooted and smuggled away from the area annually over the last few years. Despite strengthening the vigil soon after the LDF had come to power in the State, 20 trees have been lost during the last 100 days.

At a press conference here on Saturday, he said the department had devised a programme to turn the protection of Marayur Sandal Reserve into a people's movement. Local support to and participation in the smuggling activities at present make the protection efforts partially ineffective. The problem can be fully tackled only if the local people themselves were to help the department in the vigil against smuggling. The department is organising a `sandalwood protection convention' at Marayur on August 28, ensuring the participation of all sections of the people of the area. This convention will discuss strategies to involve the local people in the protection efforts.

According to sources in the department, the idea is to pass on a substantial part of the profits from the proposed oil extraction unit to the local community so that the community will have a stake in protecting the sandal reserve.

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