AN ODYSSEY THROUGH ODISHA

 26 November 2019: The odyssey begins

It was a special day as I arrived at Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneshwar. Emotions were high as my batchmate and close friend Rohita Kumar Lenka greeted me with his effervescent giggle and hugs at the arrival gate….we were meeting after a gap of pretty long five years. The occasion was spiced up by the wonderful smiles and reception placed forward by three of my Officer Trainees Tatini, Ashutosh and Mohan. Little was I aware of the great experience that awaited me in Odisha in the coming seven days.

Tired I was, but a sumptuous meal at Tatini’s home, just elevated the energy levels. The multiple dishes on the table got even tastier with the motherly love generously sprinkled over the platter. By evening, I was accompanied to Lingaraj temple, a visit to which no pious tourist would miss in Bhubaneshwar. Bright yellow incandescent lights lit up the massive group of rock carved temple into an ethereal sight full of divinity. As we walked bare foot inside the temple premise, loud gongs of bell rose up in the air. There were young priests who offered to take us around the temple and get the “darshan” done with ease, all for just Rs. 50. And then another young priest made a similar offer of guided “darshan” for just Rs. 20! God was there everywhere, I thought; and I wasn’t on a guided blessing tour either. I had other thoughts. Faith and business seemed to make a good combination there. But nothing as magnificent as the towering rock cut temple and the amla tree (Phyllanthus emblica) that stood like a sage inside the temple premise. Reverence to such trees has been a common practice in India since time immemorial in the form of sthalavrikshas and more complex sacred groves.

27 November 2019: ‘Titli’ talks at Parlekhemundi

Parlekhemundi lies down south of Odisha just where Andhra Pradesh shares boundary. Travelling in an Innova ensured the much required comfort for the hectic and cumbersome journey through the week. As my driver Saddam drove me an hour past Behrampur, we took a detour from the national highway through a road that zig-zagged between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Villages of Andhra seemed to be more prosperous as they had lush green paddy fields and vegetables in their crop lands while robust high milk yielding cattle stood graciously in their courtyards. Contrary to this, intermittent stretches of the road passing through Odisha displayed the small hills and hillocks of the Eastern Ghats, open forests and fragments of cultivated lands. The roads were full of lean cattle on their way back from the forests – an indication of extensive grazing predominant in forests of the region. After having an elaborate lunch with another Officer Trainee – Monsoon – we discussed the progress of her On Job Training (OJT) and forestry in general at Parlekhemundi. It was interesting to know that the yield and collection of non-wood forest produce was drastically affected post cyclone ‘Titli.’ The Forest Department officials there seemed desperate to link people with NWFP – based livelihood activities on one side while on the other side, people expressed little interest in NWFP marketing! There could be several reason for such a trend like easier alternate sources of income by way of daily wages, farm labour and even getting stuck in the vicious cycle of debt trap! It is a well established fact that benefit : cost ratio of such interventions in the fringe villages should be higher than the other alternate sources of income available there. These thoughts were left up to Monsoon for further understanding as I left Parlekhemundi late in the evening for overnight halt at Bhubaneshwar before I set out on the long journey that awaited next day.

28 November 2019: Fragmented habitats

Paddy fields and fragmented forests on the way to Angul

An early breakfast at the Forest Rest House in Bhubaneshwar with my batchmate Rohita Kumar ensured that I set out for my next destination well in time. Soon, I found myself crossing the mighty Mahanadi (or Brahminy??) on the way to Angul Forest Division. On the way, two halts were scheduled for OJT review – one at Athagarh Forest Division and the other at Dhenkanal. The road to Angul curled and at times unwound through patches of teak dominated forests very often broken by a considerable stretch of paddy fields and villages. Elephant dung – both fresh and dried on the roadsides and on the road as well indicated that the area was frequented by the majestic elephants. Very often have we heard about man-elephant conflicts in Dhenkanal and Athagarh region. After having reviewed Dibyasingh’s OJT works at Athagarh, I moved on to Dhenkanal. A brief interaction with Shri Bimal Acharya - the Divisional Forest Officer of Dhenkanal was nothing but the assertion of the growing man-animal conflicts in the region. Mining, industrialization, expansion of human habitations and the associated infrastructure development were causing fragmentation of the forest habitats. The landscape level and regional level wildlife corridors that connect patches of sizeable habitats have also been interrupted by anthropogenic activities. Such fragmentation obviously would lead to confrontation between wild animals and human beings. There have been several such sad instances of electrocution of wild elephants in Odisha. The helpless peasants and villagers while protecting their crops end up harming the elephants that wander in search of food, water, space and cover – the four factors of wildlife welfare. Neither the farmers can be blamed nor the elephants – both have their own justifications. What matters is larger policy decisions that ensure holistic habitat availability across landscapes interconnected by viable wildlife corridors. Actions that enable co-existence of man and animal needs to be explored and implemented. As I reviewed Falguni’s performance as an Officer Trainee in field, he explained how he searched for undigested plant parts in elephant dung to understand the feeding pattern of elephants. He looked for fibres, leaves, barks and at times even seeds. He observed young seedlings of several trees and grasses that germinated in the dung besides the presence of several species of insects and fungi. The elephants also pushed down trees making gaps in the forest canopy that promoted regeneration of trees in the gaps. He seemed to be convinced why the majestic pachyderm is referred to as “engineer species!” His review followed by lunch was arranged at a forest nursery where the well grown seedlings waited to be lifted and planted in the field, hoping that one day they too would contribute to the forest cover of India. It would take them several seasons and years to grow into trees, nevertheless forest nurseries are the focal sources that feed seedlings for afforestation across the country in different ecosystems and terrains. A well-managed nursery means healthy seedlings, healthy seedlings in turn ensure better survival in the field and better survival combined with protection shall definitely enable those seedlings in Kathagada nursery to become a part of India’s green cover in sometime in the future! With this positive note, I proceeded towards Angul. Similar mosaic of forest – paddy fields – villages recurred up to Angul. I assured myself again -  forest fragmentation is a definite cause of increasing elephant depredation. Later in the evening, I reached Angul Forest Rest House where another Officer Trainee Debiprasad waited to share his experiences. It wasn’t different but more severe form of conflicts existed in Angul Forest Division. Next day Debiprasad showed me photographs of broken house and destroyed crops -  damage caused by a herd of elephants that night. He had meticulously analysed the movement patterns of elephants, trends of conflicts, losses to human and elephants as well. Though the field staff of Forest Department were always on their toes to manage any conflict crisis situation, the magnitude of the problem stood in much larger realm as was discussed over breakfast next day with Mr. Pradeepraj Karat, Chief Conservator of Forests Angul Circle who hailed from Kerala. It was a pleasant surprise to find Kerala style pomfret fish fry with idiyappam, green gram and pappadam for breakfast. I felt pampered as my Kerala roots got nourished the Malabar way!

29 November 2019: Stream by the road

Stream by the road

The Kerala style breakfast ensured hunger is kept at bay till I reach Sambalpur – an arduous journey on a road that was under repair and widening even as pits and ditches were numerous. Saddam could slowly steer through the roubles, mud, gravels and ditches with a lot of patience. The jerky journey lasted a pretty five hours rocking and shaking every bone and muscle in the body. The dense teak dominated forests and plantations were breath-taking. Giving a break to the jerky journey was important and I couldn’t resist halting at a secluded place just after crossing Rairakhol. No other spot could have been better than a stream just by the road side.  The reddish – brown pebbles and sand on the two feet deep stream bed could be seen while music of flowing water pampered the tired mind. A small pool by the stream lay hidden in the dense wood. Hoof marks of cattle, chital and sambar deer scattered around the pool indicating their frequent visit to this waterhole. Off went my shoes and socks! Couldn’t resist hanging my feet into the cold stream perching on a piece of old log. Out of the stream, I sat beneath a teak tree, with a leg-hand-back stretched out posture for a while. It was almost half an hour of break now. Saddam called “Sir! We’ll get late! Sambalpur is still far away!!” The back-breaking journey continued – railway track, teak forests and small tribal hamlets – all seemed to be in rhythm with one another. It was late in the afternoon when I reached Sambalpur at Forest Rest House near a deer park. I realised that too much reliance on Google Maps to find routes and locations in crowded places may become futile. Ultimately, Himanshu and Rashmi, my Officer Trainees, had to rescue me from the jig saw puzzle of Sambalpur roads. Once again it was an elaborate lunch with prawns on the platter. There I got the opportunity of having a brief discussion about forestry in Sambalpur with Dr. Sanjeet Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer of Sambalpur. Sambalpuri saree and dance need no introduction as both have carved out unique niche for themselves in the world of art, traditions and culture. Sambalpur is a unique tribal landscape with a preponderance of rich cultural heritage in the form of dance, music, art and traditional beliefs. As I reviewed OJT works of Himanshu and Rashmi, we spoke more about tribal life, forest-people interdependence and Joint Forest Management (JFM). The question raised very

Banks of Hirakud reservoir act as ecotone habitat

 often – is JFM a success in India - cropped up. Both the Officer Trainees, after two months of interaction with village communities and JFM Committees, were concerned about sustainability of such Community Based Organisations (CBOs) like the JFMCs. Most of the JFMCs – by whatever names they are called as – weaken, cripple and disappear after departmental support and funding stops after the specified project period. Concerns were also high whether several JFMCs remained on the papers only. As a forester, I have personally managed JFMCs and other kinds of CBOs in Renuka Ji Forest Division of Himachal Pradesh. It requires lots of trust, hand holding, support and community empowerment combined with awareness creation to ensure an active JFMC.  Sustainable income generating activities that ensure better income on long term basis is another pillar of successful JFM. Transparency and accountability cannot be pushed aside while dealing with people. An Officer has to be friendly, approachable, problem solver and free of ego to be trusted by the people – he should not feel low or shy in sitting with villagers on the ground and discuss things with them.  The process of JFM begins with microplanning which itself should be made by the people and not by the field staff of Forest Department without consulting the people. Easy said than done! Data would tell us that there are more than 1.2 lakh JFMCs in India that manage almost 22 million hectares of forest land.  People’s participation is inevitable, but true decentralization of decision making, implementation and monitoring is necessary to ensure such participation. Clarity on the legal status of JFMCs vis-à-vis the Panchayati Raj system and other law like the Forest Rights Act 2006, the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the Biological Diversity Act 2002 is also need of the hour. Having shared my experience with the Trainees, I proceeded towards Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary, accompanied by Mr. Sanathkumar, Divisional Forest Officer of Hirekud Wildlife Division. Sudhashree, another Officer Trainee whose review was not in my duty list, served crispy pakoda and tea at her residence inside Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya near Goshala. I was overwhelmed by the warm hospitality her family members showered on me. It was dark while we drove over the Hirakud dam almost 11 kms. The dam held a massive sea of reservoir withholding the mighty Mahanadi. Hirakud dam is one of the first mega multipurpose dam projects that India established post-independence.  With an installed capacity of more than 340 MW power, the dam irrigates districts of Sambalpur, Bargarh, Bolangir, and Subarnpur while flood protection is offered far beyond these districts. These benefits came at a cost – displacement of about 22000 families, affecting the lives of more than 150000 people and submergence of huge tracts of forest land. Humbled by the huge reservoir and punctuated dinner for that little space left in stomach, had a deep sleep at Debrigarh Nature Camp inside the Wildlife Sanctuary.

30 November 2019: The legend of Khandadhar and the road least taken

Sanath Kumar promised me sighting of gaur herds – the mascot of Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary – on the early

Gaur on the way

 morning drive through the fair weather forest road.  As we drove towards the watchtower, stands of straight and tall Anogeissus latifolia trees filled the surroundings with an ethereal beauty. The forest canopy was continuous and multi-storeyed. Nature is alone Supreme! The watchtower offered a view of the vast reservoir on one side and the dense forest canopy on the other. A cup of tea atop the watchtower added value to the morning amid discussion on management aspects of the sanctuary. It was surprising that the elephants rarely visited the sanctuary. The drive back to the camp was even more exciting as a small herd of gaur just stood by the road, grazing in a small opening in the forest. Male, as usual majestic, shied away behind the bushes while a young female preferred to cross the road and give us a better glimpse of herself!  Males are massive and darker in colour while the females are comparatively smaller and paler. After having breakfast at the cafeteria that stood on pillars submerged under the reservoir water, I proceeded towards Bonai. The Hirakud reservoir looked mightier than what it seemed to be in the night.

Path of beauty: Debrigarh Wildlife Sanctuary

After another journey on dusty roads, I reached Khandadhar ecotourism site of Bonai Forest Division. As we took a detour from the main road to Khandadhar, a tiny board that usually wouldn’t catch attention of travellers struck my eyes. Realizing my curiosity, the accompanying Officer Trainee Sushanta read and translated the text for me that proudly “This forest belongs to us.” Rightly, put up there, the tiny board gave a loud and clear message – the forests belong to the original tribal inhabitants of the place. As emphatic it could be, the message meant a lot in a landscape that is dominated by the mining industry, digging up the chest of Mother Earth, displacing the local population, rupturing the intense relationship between human culture and nature and polluting the serene environs. Such assertion of rights of tribal population over forest resources has also been ensured by the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996. The towering hill laced with a white waterfall right in front of the view from Ecotourism camp site was a delight to the eyes. The Khandadhar waterfall pours down the elixir of life from a height of pretty 250 metres. The surrounding dense sal forest seemed to be soaked in the sublime beauty of the falls. Legend of the local Pauri Bhuiya tribe has it that an insatiable Goddess named Kankala Devi consumed the 

Khandhadhar waterfall

 trees, soil, crops and everything possible in the region. Much anguished, the villagers placed the Goddess atop a hill on a rock even which was not spared by the ever-voracious Goddess. She ate away that rock too resulting into a chasm in the hill through which down poured the waterfall. Thus the name “Khandadhar” which means split rock. Another interpretation is that the since the waterfall looks like a sword held vertically, it is christened as Khandadhar – khanda meaning sword and dhara meaning stream of water. I was sure that the concrete suites constructed there by the Forest Department was nothing but an aberration in the lap of the great forested waterfall. 

Yet another example of avoidable construction in the name of ecotourism that blemishes the natural aesthetics. Post lunch and OJT review, I proceeded to the east of Khandadhar towards my next destination – Keonjhar. The main Bonai – Keonjhar route, I was told would take longer time as there would be chains of mammoth dumper trucks carrying iron ore on the road. So We decided to take a shorter forested route through Fuljhar that would save at least half of the time, though it was getting late in the evening. We were also advised to cross over the hills as early as possible. After driving for about 20 kms, the metalled road converted to mud road. A sharp turn at the dead end through a slurry of mud took us to another broken mud road. Google Map once again stopped guiding us as the blue lines in it started behaving erratically. 

The slender pale coloured tall trees of Anogeissus latifolia

The route didn’t exist on Google Map! The journey continued with doubts whether, the road we took was the right one or not. It was soon dark as we climbed up the hills on winding road that was still kacha and under construction. The sal forests with massive trees stood thick as the headlamps lit the broken under construction kacha road with no trace of human beings anywhere. By now, my back pain worsened prompting me to take a break. As I and Saddam stood, probably at the highest elevation of the road, tiny lights glittered on the faraway western end of the hill ranges. Just then, seemingly a human foot steps could be heard. Soon a man appeared from the darkness and sent a chill of joy for us. Saddam asked him the route to Keonjhar in Odiya – he didn’t utter a word, just extended his arms further towards the road and pointed his index finger, and walked to disappear once again in darkness with his heavy steps. He was probably a child of the forests, who knew each and every trail and path in the forests and perhaps needed no flashlights or navigation devices to reach his destination. 

The road least taken

A bumpy journey ahead soon converted into a narrow but metalled road bringing a sigh of relief on our faces. As we descended the hills in darkness, we could now see agricultural fields on either side of the road. Just on the outskirts of a partially lit village, we noticed few men running and screaming on the road with torches and flashlights in their hands. As curiosity gripped us, we halted again and stopped a running man to enquire why they were running. He pointed towards the paddy field informing us of a herd of elephants approaching the village through the paddy fields. The men were trying to drive away the pachyderms and save their crops from being rampaged. He had no time to explain in details as he hastily moved away to join others. We could see at least 2-3 elephants in the torchlight at a distance, behind some tall grasses and bushes in the midst of crop land. The elephants do not remain stationary for long at a place owing to huge quantity of food and water requirement and love moving around even up to 100 kilometers in a day! The forests were so much fragmented that the elegant pachyderms come into human interface very often leading to conflicts. Ad hoc management of such conflict situations like driving away the animals, mob management and advance warning of animal movements may provide some temporary relief to the people, but problem still persists. The long term solution lies in ensuring continuity in habitats through corridors, enhanced areas for habitat conservation, preventing expansion of human habitations into wilderness and encouraging adaptive agricultural practises in forest fringe areas. Easier said than done…..the ultimate solution lies in checking human population growth! Just a few kilometers ahead, at a trijunction named Suakati, we saw some men in khakhi uniforms. Slowing down the car, I just asked one among them whether they were from the Forest Department. “Yes! Are you from Dehradun, sir?” the responded in hindi infused with Odiya flavour. They were the Keonjhar Forest Division staff who were waiting for me so that I don’t take a wrong turn at the tri-junction. I informed them about the elephants in the village and they assured me that already a quick response team is on the spot to ‘manage’ the situation. I wondered how long such ‘management’ will go on as we drove towards Sanaghaghara Nature Camp near Keonjhar for night halt. The road became broader and crowded with trucks carrying, probably mining materials. There was dust all over – in the air, on the roadsides and on the foliage. In a while, we reached Sanaghaghara Nature Camp. Soon, I was joined by my OT Tatini and later on by Santosh – a young IFS Officer posted as DFO Keonjhar. Over a camp fire, we discussed conservation, mining, OJT and had dinner too in the small yet comforting dining hall of the camp. Night here was cooler than the previous places of halt.

 

1 December 2019: Elephant in the paddy field

After having breakfast, we had a discussion on Tatini’s OJT progress. She confidently discussed her observations regarding tribal socio-economy and gender issues in the forest fringe villages. She elaborated upon her views on the phenomenon of change happening in the rural and tribal society due to industrialization and urbanization, though both of us at that moment of time, were sure that such kind of change is probably undesirable. Leaving the traditional egalitarian lives, the rural population were now migrating towards industrialized areas seeking daily waged jobs. Slowly, the new generation are abandoning agriculture and economies based on rural entrepreneurship. As we were talking, she got a phone call about a herd of elephants that had strayed into a village near Keonjhar town. She offered to take me there. Recalling the previous night’s incidence, I too was excited to see elephants inside the village. Soon we were in a jeep off to see the majestic animals roam in the fields. As we approached the site through a mud road, we could see more than 60-70 people gathering at the edge of a ripe paddy field. There were a few forest officials who were managing the people who had gathered there – some to see the elephants, some to see what forest officials are doing and some just for fun! The officials were keeping people away from the animals hiding behind a

Woman harvesting paddy and men watching
the strayed out elephants

Lantana thicket amongst the fatigued root suckers of kendu (bidi leaf) plants on a parched piece of earth by the edge of a paddy field. A lady forester there was very energetic and chased away nuisance creators from the site effectively. She said, the animals would move away by twilight or a little later. All they had to do was to just wait for another 5-6 hours, but at the same time ensure that the onlookers don’t create any panic situation. As we approached the small herd from another side, there stood more people watching the scene and making noise. Barely 50 metres away from the herd, a middle-aged lady was calm and busy harvesting the ripe paddy from her field without any fear of the pachyderm standing in the thickets just next to her field. Perhaps, it is a matter of routine for her and she thought it would be wise to harvest whatever she can before the elephants go on a rampage in the field.  As I had to leave for my next station, we left back to Sanaghaghara Nature Camp hoping that the elephants would just move away back to the wilderness, sooner! By afternoon, I was on my way to Bhadrak for the last leg of OJT review.

Herd of elephants behind the bushes

As we crossed Ghatgaon forests along National Highway 215 to Bhadrak, I could see piles of elephant dung scattered on the roadside, hinting at frequent movement of the pachyderm there. Just a few metres ahead, there seemed to be a small culvert like passage under the road, just sufficient for elephants to cross over to the other side of the road. There was a small board also that mentioned elephant crossing underpass ahead. Clearly, the board cannot be read by the elephants, and the passage seemed to be too small and not utilized by them. However, I was told the previous day that elaborate and more technically sound elephant crossing passages are already planned for construction on the highway. Good news that is, and I hope it happens very soon. Development and conservation can go hand in hand.

Soon, the forests disappeared as we moved towards Bhadrak. It was evening as I reached Bhadrak guided by a forest staff from the outskirts of the city to a transit camp of the forest department. Bhadrak wildlife Division does not have much forest area except for a patch of mangroves. However, the coastal area, and Bahubali Island in particular, witnesses a number of Olive Ridley turtles, narrated Poornima, the DFO of Bhadrak. The officer trainee here, Chichilichy, shared her experience of visiting the mangrove forests here as I reviewed her OJT.  She also indicated the large number of saw mills and timber sales that happens in Bhadrak and the need to ensure that only legal business in wood is carried out there.  We retired for the night after the OJT review followed by dinned pepped up with a spicy crab treat!

 

2 January 2019 : Winding up

It was time to wind up, the next day morning. The journey to Bhubaneshwar airport from Bhadrak was a swift and quick one along the National Highway - 5. Once again my dear friend Rohita Kumar joined me en route the airport. I narrated all the wonderful experiences I had in Odisha over the past week and thanked him for all his support. As I entered into the check in gate at the airport, a warm hug, well wishes and a broad cheerful smile on his face was the sweetest thing to wind up the memorable odyssey through Odisha!