Dept rakes in crores from eucalyptus, sal cultivation in Paonta Sahib

Tribune News Service

Ambika Sharma

Solan, February 25

Sal and eucalyptus cultivation in the Paonta Sahib division of Sirmaur district has turned out to be a money-spinner, with Rs 40 crore having been earned in two years by the Forest Department.

Covering an area of 100 hectares of sal plantation block and 18.5 hectares of eucalyptus, the annual auction to the HP State Forest Corporation helped the Forest Department earn crores. The area houses the largest sal circle in the state.

Paonta Sahib Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Aishwarya Raj said, “Sal plantations have an annual revenue potential of nearly Rs 100 crore, besides creating employment of 81 man days in the division. The sal plantation circle constitutes more than 16,000 hectare in the entire division.”

Sal inherently is difficult to grow and the lone way to raise its plantation is to aid its regeneration. The forest staff made a slew of efforts to help its regeneration where support of the locals was sought to avoid its illegal axing.

“The sal plantation does not give encouraging results when planted and this phenomenon was largely observed in the lower Shiwalik belt here. In order to conserve this species, it was important to focus on its regeneration. Sal sapling takes 12 years to attain maturity,” Raj said. The need to treat the forests scientifically was also highlighted during the experimental felling undertaken to enhance regeneration which included removing dead, decaying and diseased species.

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