How villagers of Sagarpali turned 121 hectares of barren hill into a lush green forest in Odisha

Years of illegal tree-felling on the Kaladunguri Hill and its surrounding forests in Sagarpali village under Odisha’s Sundargarh Forest Division had left it barren. Deforestation led to the extinction of animals and plants changed the local climate and lowered the groundwater level.

The villagers alarmed at the changes around them, formed the Sagarpali Vana Surakhsya Samiti (SVSS) in 1994 to regenerate the barren hill and reverse the damage from years of tree cutting. The drive to regenerate the hill and forests, spread over 121.41 hectares (with a length of 8.4 km) took off under the umbrella of Sundargarh Forest Division. 

Massive plantation and prevention of cattle grazing have been the two main components of the reforestation drive. Sundargarh Forest Division and the Self-Employed Workers’ Association Kendra (SEWAK) have helped the villagers and SVSS. 

Also Read: Return of the native: How Maruvan is restoring Rajasthan's desert habitat

From barren to green

The SVSS and villagers have planted over 48,000 saplings in phases to convert bare forest areas below Kaladunguri Hill into a green oasis.

“SVSS and villagers undertake plantation in deforested areas and protect the saplings, letting the trees take roots naturally. 

To prevent grazing and fire outbreaks around Kaladungri Forest, SVSS has dug cattle-proof trenches in a radius of 4 km through ‘Shram Daan’ of villagers,” says Digambar Upadhyay, the Programme Director of SEWAK.

“The forest area below the hill covers over 76 hectares. Out of its total area, SVSS has covered nearly 36 hectares for plantation under Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) of the forest department, while about 11 hectares have been covered under Artificial Regeneration (AR). Similarly, five hectares have been covered under Block Plantation (BP),” says Bharati Patel, the bana sahayika of SVSS.

While saplings of jamun, karanja, harida, bahada and amla have been planted under ANR, those like acacia, eucalyptus and chakunda have been planted under AR. Similarly, saplings of babul, gambhari and several others have been planted under BP. 

Also Read: Udaipur youths turn barren lands green; help 1200 farmers go back to traditional farming

The three-pronged strategy

SEWAK coordinates between the forest department and SVSS in procuring saplings. It also guides villagers in planting the right variety of saplings in a given area and imparts training on maintaining the plants. 

A three-pronged strategy -‘Thengapalli’, ‘Muthi Dhana’ and ‘Shram Daan’ was adopted to continue the plantation drive and protect them from future harm. 

Thenga means sticks and ‘palli’ means ‘turn’. It is a practice where villagers take turns in protecting their community forest as guards. 'Muthi dhana’ is the monthly contribution of paddy by every household towards forest development. ‘Shram Daan’ is the free contribution of villagers’ labour in planting saplings of banyan, palm and peepal along with medicinal herbs like amla, neem and others. 

“Karladunguri hill has now turned green solely due to the initiative of SVSS and villagers. We provide them with saplings for plantation,” says Debadatta Nanda, the ranger of Udalpur unit of Sundargarh Forest Division.

Also Read: Five forest warriors greening the planet

It has not only improved the local climate and brought back animals, but also fetched it the award of the best Vana Surakhsya Samiti (Forest Protection Committee) in the state in 2024. Earlier, the SVSS received the Biju Patnaik Award in 2019. 

Every day two young men above 18 are chosen to guard the hill and the surrounding forest below it against tree-felling. Recently, a ‘Katwal’ was engaged in this work.

“Each household in Sagarpali donates rice or cash or both. About half of this ‘Muthi Dhana’ or donated rice is sold to pay the ‘Katwal’ as his remuneration. The other half is spent on the upkeep of trees and plants in forest areas and on the hill. “We receive around Rs 15,000 in cash and about Rs 22,000 from the sale of rice,” says Debanand Maling, the SVSS treasurer. 

“If a person is found felling a tree during the night, he has to pay a penalty of Rs 3000 or more. If the offence is committed during the day, he has to cough up Rs 1000 or more. Determined by SVSS, the penalty amount is calculated based on the height and breadth of the tree felled,” he adds.

Alternative livelihoods – protecting trees, increasing incomes

Villagers are allowed to collect fruits from trees planted in the ANR zone, while overgrown tree branches in the AR zone are used as fuel wood after trees are pruned. Similarly, villagers can collect green leaves and twigs from the BP zone to feed their cattle. 

“Regulated collection of fruits, fuel wood, and green leaves and twigs are allowed to prevent illegal tree felling and to reduce the excessive dependence on forest,” says Debanand. 

Besides, steps have been taken to promote dairy, mushroom, turmeric and millet farming, vermicompost preparation, and backyard poultry as alternative livelihood options to ease the pressure on the forest. 

Thirty-four households in the village have undertaken dairy farming with the help of SEWAK and SVSS, and ten have taken up mushroom farming. Another 58 households have started turmeric cultivation, 28 millet farming, and five households have backyard poultry. 

“While nearly 26 households earn lakhs annually through this diversified income-based programme, about 64 are slowly and steadily striving to join their ranks,” says Digambar. 

Jyotsna Patel, the secretary of the self-help group ‘Jaya Shri Krishna’ with ten women members, underlines the importance of alternative livelihood options. “We sell our vermicompost to the forest department that takes up plantations in different areas. We also provide our compost to SVSS for its ongoing plantation drive,” she says.

The forest department has provided Rs 2 lakh from its revolving fund to SVSS under its Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project Phase-II (OFSDP-II) to help villagers take up alternative livelihood projects. 

“The fund provided under OFSDP-II is with us. Households can take a loan from the fund with an annual interest rate of 50 paise to start alternative livelihood projects,” says Bharati.   

“We had availed a loan of Rs 50,000 in 2021 to begin our vermicompost project that now clocks an annual turnover of over Rs. 1.5 lakh. We cleared the loan with interest in 2022 in two phases,” says Jyotsna. 

Though conservation and plantation have been successful, fire outbreaks pose a major threat. To tackle this, SVSS has formed a fire control team.

“The team comprises 22 members in the 23-50 age group who make rounds to foil any possibility of fire outbreak. If a fire incident occurs, all villagers and the team members douse it collectively. The forest department has provided sprayers and blowers to us to deal with such situations,” says Debanand.

(Niroj Ranjan Misra is a Cuttack-based freelance writer. He writes on rural and tribal life, social issues, art and culture, and sports.)

Also Read: SankalpTaru: Planting 3.5 million trees, helping 30000 farmers

Look up our YouTube Channel