The ever increasing use of wood as fuel has become a cause of concern for everybody now, but it seems the authorities are hardly moved by the degradation of green cover in Adilabad.
One of the main reasons for increase in consumption of firewood in rural areas is an increased incidence of people moving from one place to another.
In almost all hotels in rural areas, there are an unusually large number of them in mandal headquarters, depend upon wood as fuel. As most of the mandals are located close to forests, finding sufficient quantity of firewood is not a difficult task at all.
In mandals such as Indervelli, Utnoor, Narnoor, Jainoor, Kerameri, Wankidi, Asifabad, Kagaznagar, Rebbena, Mandamarri, etc. whole logs of wood can be found being burnt in large ovens of hotel as fuels. The ovens are so large that the owners do not find it necessary to chop the logs into small pieces to be fed into them.
There is indeed a great need to wean away commercial establishments from the use of firewood which is detrimental to the local environment. The use of commercial LPG needs to be promoted in these areas which will go a long way in protecting forests.
The government has so far failed in promoting use of LPG even in domestic sector. Though the Deepam scheme of allocating gas connections has seen over 1.5 lakh households received the subsidised connections, the actual use of LPG continues to be restricted in this sector.
It has been observed that people in Adilabad district display a marked lack of concern towards things connected with environment. The government therefore seems to have its task cut out in creating awareness on use of proper fuel.
