The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Hoardings spread message of conservation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 06, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Hoardings spread message of conservation

S. Harpal Singh

43 p.c. forest area faces danger from timber smugglers

note of caution: A hoarding put up by the Forest Department in support of environment protection.

ADILABAD: It becomes imperative for the forest department to launch environment protection activities when forests face the threat of degradation and denudation, like in Adilabad district. Though not highly alarming, the district’s 43 per cent area under forest cover faces constant danger from timber smugglers and encroachers and that needs to be curbed urgently.

In this regard, Adilabad forest division has adopted a rather innocuous and subtle way of spreading the message of conservation through the medium of hoardings. Thought provoking slogans on large hoardings put up at strategic locations say all that needs to be said in favour of forest protection.

Soulful messages

“When brevity is at its best, it becomes the soul of the message. I came across hoardings with a slogan linking trees to oxygen and life (vanon se vayu...vayu se ayu) in the lower Himalayan region. I felt the message could also produce desired results in my area so I not only put it on display but got it translated into Telugu for the benefit of local people,” T. P. Thimma Reddy, Adilabad Divisional Forest Officer, narrated the brief story behind the slogan on a hoarding placed recently near Gandhi park in town.

Various hoardings

The department has also put up about 60 hoardings across its six Divisions in the district that keep changing the content of the message according to the individual season. For example, when the beedi leaf collection season is on, the department gives out details of related activity at places like Utnoor. Similarly, messages on stopping forest fires go up on hoardings during summer Season at some places while some others boast about tourist places so on.

“People do take pains to make a call in order to appreciate the messages we send through the hoardings. As environment protection is not entirely a strange subject even for the commoners, the messages get across properly", observed Mr. Thimma Reddy.

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