Forest
History1945: The first Division created in Midnapore vide G.O no. 34 For., dated 29.10.1945 was styled as West Bengal Forest Division having
jurisdictions over the two districts of Bankura and Midnapore.
1947: The jurisdictions over Bankura District was taken away by creation
of Bankura Forest Division vide G.O no. 614 For., dt. 06.10.1947
and the parent Division was designated as Midnapore Division.
1954: Midnapore Forest Division was split into two divisions, viz., East
Midnapore Division with headquarters at Midnapore and West
Midnapore Division with headquarters at Jhargram.
1995: Rupnarayan Division was formed by splitting East Midnapore
Division.
2007: East Midnapore Division was renamed as Midnapore Forest
Division.
2008: Midnapore Forest Division was re-designated as Medinipur
Division
Purpose/Objective:
The object of creation of West Bengal Forest Division was preparation and checking of working plans of erstwhile private forest and also for initiating experiments on afforestation of waste lands.Midnapore division was split up in 1954 for proper management of forests vested in Government under Estate Acquisition Act of 1953.
Location giving boundary:
The area lies between 22º49¢ and 22º23¢ North Latitude and 87º30' and 87º00'
East Longitudes and bounded on the North and West by Rupnarayan Forest
Division and river Kangsabati, on the East by Medinipur-Keshpur-Road and
Kharagpur Forest Division and on the South by river Kangsabati.
Geology, Rock and Soil:
The parent rock is a mixture of metamorphic rocks of sedimentary origin and igneous rocks both basic and acidic. Laterite, the characteristic formation of the district, occupies a large tract. The thickness of the laterite varies from place to place but is not known to exceed 15m in this area. The sandy loam and loamy soil of reddish or reddish brown colour covers the upper layers of almost the whole area.
Topography:
The area has a very gentle slope from East to West. The North-South Railway line from Medinipur to Bankura divides this tract into two district zones. The one falling to the East is almost level while the other is a gently rolling country punctuated by a small rise here and a matching fall there.
Climate:
This tract experiences three seasons in a year. A hot season spanning from March to early June, a slight wet season lasting from mid-June to September and a cold season covering the rest. Temperature begin to rise rapidly from about the beginning of March-April and May are the hottest months with the mean daily maximum temperature reaching 39ºC and the mean daily minimum falling to about 26ºC. The maximum temperature during the period April to the early part of June at times reaches 45ºC to 46ºC. In winter months the minimum temperature may occasionally go down to as low as 6ºC. The annual average rainfall is 1500 mm.
Flora and Fauna:
This area is covered predominantly with Sal of coppice origin on an average 60% area is covered with Sal and the rest is covered with plantation, scrub jungles and bushes.Sal forest in this region fall under major group - II, dry tropical forests group-5, tropical dry deciduous forests, sub group-5 (b), Northern tropical dry deciduous forests (c) (I) dry Sal bearing forests (c) (ii) dry peninsular Sal forests according to Champion and Seth’s classification of forests types.These forests occur in disjointed patches of varying sizes and in many instances an island among cultivation fields and habitation.The usual associates of Sal in this region are Pterocarpus marsupium, Madhuca latifolia, Schleichera oliosa, Terminalia arjuna, Terminalia belerica, Bombax ceiba etc.Plantation mostly includes Eucalyptus, Akashmoni, Bamboo and Kaju etc.
For proper management of the forests the following Working Circles are adopted.
(a) Sal Conversion Working Circle -.
(b) Sal Timber Reserve Working Circle -.
(c) Development Working Circle -
No significant numbers of wild fauna are found in forests. As the condition of the forests is becoming favorable for wild life habitat after F.P.C. protection, fewer numbers of Jungle cat, baboons, python, wild boor and different avifauna are increasingly being reported. Such is the suitability of habitat that 5-10 wild elephants have become residents to these forests. The Avifauna like ducks, storks, snips, teals, etc. is very common. Jangle fowl is lacking. Venomous snakes such as cobra, krait, banded krait and Russell vipers are found.Wild elephants from Dalma Sanctuary are regular visitor to these forests during August to February every year. Due to scattered nature of forests, very often there rise man animal conflicts during this season.
Degree of Pressure on Forest Resources:
Forest fringe area dwellers collect to varying degree on the local forest resources for meeting their daily need and in the process exert pressure on the forest. The pressure exerted on the forest depends on a host of factors, prominent among them are economic condition of villagers, number and breed of livestock, presence or absence of rural infrastructure etc.Most of the FPC villages are lying surrounded the vicinity of forest area where limited infrastructure, low cash income and non-availability of modern commercial energy sources like Kerosene, LPG, Electricity pose restriction on replacing traditional fuel. Hence, 50% of the total requirement is to collect from the nearby forest area.Most of the infringe area people is very poor, the cattle become the main source of livelihood of some of the families in the villages and some keep the cattle to supplement their income. For the stated purpose they are to depend upon the forest resources and nearly 10% of the total requirements are collected as fodder from the forest area. Grazing is the most common biotic interference towards the forest resources. All the cattle belonging to these villages meet up their 30% of daily food by means of grazing inside the forest area.People of these villages are very much conscious about the social forestry concept. So they have utilized all of their waste land whatsoever by planting tree species like Akashmoni, Eucalyptus, Neem, and Sissoo. Their regular requirement like agricultural requirements, posts, rafter are met from these trees. Balance 5% of the total requirements are collected from forest area.The main NTFP collected from the forest area are thatching grasses, Mahua seeds, Sal seeds, Sal leaves, honey, medicinal herb, bamboos etc. This is nearly 3% of the total collection. Since the forest area is more or less level area, tendency of encroachment amongst a few landless villagers are noticed. It is more or less 2%.
Address of the Office: Michael Madhusudan Nagar, Medinipur-721101
Name of the Head of Office : Sri Asis Kumar Samanta, IFS
Phone No+Fax: (03222)275869
E-mail: dfomd@yahoo.com
Hierachical structure of the Office & its functionaries :
Acts, Statutes, Rules, administered by the office:
Schemes implemented by the Office :
| Name of Scheme | Salient features of the Scheme | Eligibility of Beneficiary | Entitlement of Beneficiary | Procedures on which Beneficiary gets entitlement |
| State Plan | Afforestation, MS Cutting Morrum Road, Staff Quarter JFM Support activity |
Members of Forest Protection committee | As mentioned in JFM resolution | Under JFM resolution 2759 For dt. 17.08.04 |
| Rural Infrastructure Development Fund | Afforestation, MS Cutting Thinning, Earthen Dam Pond, Rock filled Check Dam Irrigation Channel, Morrum Road, Ringwell , School Building, Community Hall, Sanitation, Deep Tube Well |
do | do | do |
| National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme | Afforestation, Distribution Nursery, Earthen Dam Pond, Contour Trench |
do | do | do |
| Forest Development Agency | Afforestation, Assisted Natural Regeneration | do | do | do |
| 12th Finance commission | Assisted Natural Regeneration Staff Quarter |
do | do | do |
| Integrated Forest Protection Scheme | Firewatcher, Fireline, Training, JFM Support activity | do | do | do |
| Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojona | Afforestation Earthen Dam |
do | do | do |
| South Bengal Project | MS Cutting Thinning Rehabilitation of Degraded Forest |
do | do | do |
| Project Elephant | Driving of Migratory Elephant, Compensation for Elephant Depredation | do | do | do |
Total Area = 51958.90 ha.
Reserve Forest = 3814.04 ha.
Protected Forest = 45406.63 ha.
Un-classed State Forest = 2738.23 ha.
Details of Forest Protection Committee
Total No of FPC =362
Total No of Beneficiary = 50797
Male member = 48038
Female member = 2759
SC = 10131
ST = 9186
Other = 31480
Performance of the Office :
| Financial Achievement (Rs. In Lakh) |
|||
| Scheme | 2008-09 | 2007-08 | 2006-07 |
| State Plan | 93.89 | 122.01 | 49.05 |
| RIDF | 117.13 | 67.31 | 45.25 |
| NREGS | 57.13 | 51.11 | 107.61 |
| FDA | 62.90 | 86.74 | 95.42 |
| 12th Finance | 5.25 | 6.00 | 10.52 |
| IFPS | 7.45 | 7.90 | 3.47 |
| RKVY | 34.05 | 10.55 | 0 |
| RSVY | 0 | 25.60 | 0 |
| South Bengal | 34.27 | 0 | 85.64 |
| PE | 25.25 | 9.92 | 6.50 |
| Total | 437.32 | 387.14 | 403.46 |
Felling Year |
Harvested area(ha.) | Total FPC Share |
| 2008-09 | 1016.50 | 1,79,32,865.00 |
| 2007-08 | 1121.60 | 1,53,40,855.00 |
| 2006-07 | 1170.00 | 2,03,86,147.00 |
| 2005-06 | 1144.45 | 1,90,92,580.00 |
| 2004-05 | 1180.00 | 1,47,02,607.00 |
| 2003-04 | 1306.00 | 1,39,78,457.00 |
| 2002-03 | 1329.00 | 1,25,40,287.00 |
| 2001-02 | 1175.25 | 1,23,07,864.00 |
| 2000-01 | 905.30 | 1,11,36,029.00 |
| 1999-00 | 696.10 | 73,74,366.00 |
| 1998-99 | 665.75 | 51,97,864.00 |
| 1997-98 | 1218.40 | 1,02,85,861.00 |
Target / Future Plan / Programme(s) of the Office :
| Name of work | Physical Target | Remarks |
| Plantation of Quick Growing Species | 900 ha. | To meet the demand of fuelwood, fodder and small timber of forest fringe villagers |
| Plantation of Sal & its associate | 150 ha. | To rejuvenate the Sal working circle |
| Harvesting of matured Sal coppice forests | 830 ha. | For Revenue, 25% usufruct sharing by FPC members, & to cater the need of pulpwood and mining industries |
| Harvesting of Quick growing species | 400 ha. | do |
| Multiple Shoot cutting | 800 ha | Silviculture Operation |
| Thinning | 500 ha. | Silviculture Operation |
| Rehabilitation of Degraded Forests | 200ha. | Silviculture Operation |
| Aided Natural Regeneration | 100ha. | Gap filling |
| Distribution of Nursery Seedlings | 10 lakhs | For free distribution during Aranya Saptaha |
| Soil Conservation Measures | ED : 20 Nos Pond : 20 Nos RCD : 200 Unit CT : 400 ha. |
To check gully erosion as well as use of stored water for irrigation purpose. |
| Construction/Maintenace of Road | 40KM | To improve rural connectivity |
| Deep Tube Well/ Ringwell | 10nos | For improvement of agriculture/ drinking water facility |
| Construction of school buildings, community hall | 10nos | Village infrastructure development |
| Distribution of implements like power tillar, paddy thrasher, sprayer, Sal leaf stitching and pressing machine | 50nos | For improvement of economic conditions of FPC members |
| Website of the Department in State of West Bengal | Website of the Department at Centre |
| www.westbengalforest.gov.in | www.envfor.nic.in |