Council to propose rehabilitation plan for Bellary’s mining zone

The Indian Council for Forest Research and Education (ICFRE) will submit a reforestation and rehabilitation plan to restore the ecological balance of Bellary’s mining area.

This comes in the backdrop of an ICFRE report to the Supreme Court, which highlighted the issues facing the area.

“We’d done a scientific research on the mining issue in Bellary and submitted a report to the Supreme Court. Now, the court has to act on the report. We have been approached by the government of Karnataka to chart out a plan for rehabilitation and re-forestation of the area. We will look at sustainable and scientific mining alongside the rehabilitation work,” said Dr VK Bahuguna, director general, ICFRE. 

A meeting in this regard is likely to be held on January 7.

He was speaking during the inauguration of the Woods Museum-cum-Interpretation Centre at the Institute of Wood Science and Technology (IWST).

The museum was planned and conceptualised in 2008. JC Joshi, director, IWST, said while a sum of Rs2 crore was allocated for the museum, its construction did not require more than Rs13 lakh.

The museum showcases the story of wood along with man from pre-history and a gallery of indigenous trees of the country. It hosts about 20 varieties of trees in order of their weight.

“The lightest wood showcased is Balsa and the heaviest is Chundra. These are the wood varieties used in construction business around the world,” he said.

The museum was constructed in 240 days and was financed by the FAO Rome as part of the International Conference on Art and Joy of Wood, which was held at the institute in October last year.

“In the museum, we have wood that is systematically dissected from its macro form to cell ultra-structure and constituent chemicals. We also have various properties like density, colour, knots, and spiral grains to detect the age of the trees,” he said.

Among the many artefacts kept, two large discs of teak wood steal the show.

“One of the discs traces the time since British came to India till India’s Independence. We also have a section which shows modern products of wood polymers used in construction industries,” he said.

The institute will invite students to the museum to learn more about wood.

“We will be inviting students in batches of 50 a day or week to educate them on the uses of wood. We want to have 20 such batches within the next four months,” said Pankaj Agarwal, scientist, IWST.

The museum is open for public on weekdays from 10 am to 5 pm.