The jatara, or village fair season in the tribal belt of former composite Adilabad district between January and March every year brings entertainment and enjoyment closer to the rural folk living in far corners. But there’s also huge collateral damage - it spells doom for the local environment.
The makeshift hotels are the most important and popular part of any such fair as they dish out traditional sweetmeats like the mouth watering laddu, jalebi and balushahi besides the regular poori bhaji, bajji, chivda etc. So far so good. But these hotels also use tonnes of fuelwood extracted illegally from forests nearby and right under the nose of the foresters concerned.
Carnival season
The jatara season starts around end December or early January. The first of such fairs held on the bed of river Penganga on the inter-State border that Adilabad district shares with Maharashtra along the NH 44. It is followed by the Adivasi events at Sadalpur Bhairamdev jatara in Bela mandal, the Narnoor Khamdev jatara in Narnoor mandal, the Keslapur Nagoba jatara in Indervelli mandal, the Shampur Budumdev jatara (currently on) in Utnoor mandal, all in Adilabad district. Then the Sirpur jatara in the remote Lingapur mandal, and finally the Kerameri jatara in Kerameri mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district closer to Holi.
Tonnes of fuelwood and smoke
Each event roughly goes on for over 10 days, boasts of at least 25 joints, each hotel consuming around three bullock cart loads of firewood during the duration and each cart containing of 15 to 20 quintals of illegally felled fuelwood from the forests. A quick back of the envelope calculation is revealing. For instance, the recently concluded Keslapur Nagoba jatara had 28 temporary eateries, and used about 170 tonnes of firewood cumulatively.
“The burning of such enormous quantities of fuelwood also adds to pollution in the place. The Forest Department can actually help the government in making the hoteliers opt for LPG by controlling use of firewood,” suggested a bangle shop owner at Shampur jatara.
