Palamu villagers vacate forest land for regeneration

PNS

Daltonganj

In a notable community-led conservation effort, villagers of Sohdaag Khurd in Palamu’s Nawa Bazar block have voluntarily given up nearly seven acres of forest land that had been cultivated for years, enabling forest regeneration and afforestation activities.

According to forest department sources, villagers had been growing pulse crops such as arhar and kurthi on the land despite repeated warnings. The cultivation of seasonal cash crops had limited natural forest growth.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Medininagar Forest Division, Satyam Kumar, said the department chose awareness and dialogue over legal action to reclaim the land. “Instead of registering cases under the Forest Act, we counselled villagers on the long-term benefits of forest regeneration,” he said.

Kumar said the villagers responded positively, vacated the land and requested the department to undertake regeneration work. He credited Sohdaag Khurd Panchayat Mukhiya Damodar Choudhury for facilitating the process.

Choudhury said the decision was taken collectively in a Gram Sabha meeting. The village resolved to return the land to the forest department for establishing nurseries, planting fruit-bearing trees and ensuring adequate fodder resources for livestock.

A nursery has already been set up on the reclaimed land. During the ongoing monsoon season, plantation activities will include species such as tamarind, jungle jalebi, mahua and jamun.

Appreciating the initiative, Kumar described the move as a model of cooperation between local communities and the forest department. He said the villagers had demonstrated a strong commitment to forest conservation and urged other villages to take inspiration from their example.