A project envisaging the conversion of the invasive weed, lantana camara, in the BRT wildlife sanctuary into fuel briquette and generating employment and profit for local community is poised for launch early next week in Chamarajanagar. The government has already released ₹3.6 crore for the purpose and the project has also been flagged for job generation under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
About 2,000 tribal people with job cards, under MNREGA, are expected to benefit from this and the profits accruing out of it will go to Large-sized Adivasi Multi Purpose (LAMP) Co-op Society Ltd.
The project will also help clear the tiger reserve of lantana, which is suppressing local vegetation and reducing forage and fodder for herbivores in forests.
The concept of lantana management by converting it to briquette fuel or raw material for industry was proposed by K.S. Sudheer of Voice for Wildlife and to be undertaken by LAMPS through the Forest Department, said Shivashankar Swamy, Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF). He told The Hindu that the cost of clearing lantana has been enhanced from ₹8,000 per hectare to ₹60,000 per hectare (including ₹12,000 towards the charges of cleaning and cutting them) under MNREGA.
“The authorities had originally rejected the project on the grounds that lantana removal could not be included in the MNREGA as it was not an asset building activity. But when explained that removal of weed would help in habitat improvement besides generating jobs to the tribal community and its conversion to briquettes would be an asset, it was approved,” said Mr. Swamy.
The pilot project was implemented from November 2016 through April 2017 at BRT Sanctuary and entailed removal of lantana in the K. Gudi range.
Mr. Sudheer said that it helped generate 453 man-days of employment and nearly 200 tonnes of lantana were removed.
“But a review of the pilot project indicated that the project could not be viable as the LAMPS could not afford to pay the lantana cutting charges and recover the money by selling the shredded lantana,” explained Mr. Sudheer.
Hence it was suggested that the government bear the cost of extraction and the LAMPS would sell it as non-timber forest product to biomass consumers.
The revised rates has been accepted by the State government and the same is now included in the Government Standard Rates, he added.
