CPI wants tribal village committees allowed to harvest dried bamboo

CPI urges Forest Department to allow tribal communities to harvest dried bamboo grass for their use or sale.

With dried bamboo groves in the Erode Forest Division and Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (STR) turning useless, the Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged the Forest Department to permit tribal communities to harvest the grass for their use or sale.

Led by former Bhavanisagar MLA P.L. Sundaram, party functionaries participated in a meeting at Sathyamangalam recently. S. Mohan Kumar, State Committee Member, CPI, said that bamboo grass had completely dried up in the Hasanur and Sathyamangalam divisions of STR and in the Bargur hills in the Erode Forest Division. Typically, the lifespan of bamboo is 60 years, and at the end of its life cycle, it flowers, generates rice, and dies. “In the last two years, bamboo has withered in the district,” he said. The tribal people have been demanding permission to cut the grass and use it.

Mr. Mohan Kumar noted that bamboo is classified as grass, not a tree, and under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, tribal communities are allowed to harvest and use bamboo. The dried bamboo grass has fallen and corroded in Hasanur and Bargur, affecting vehicle movement on the roads. He claimed that a contractor was permitted to cut bamboo in the Bargur hills and sell it to paper mills, a task that should have been allocated to tribal communities. “Bamboo is being sold at low prices, causing huge losses for which the Forest Department is responsible,” he said. The tribal communities should be permitted to remove the dried bamboo, he added.