DIMAPUR, MARCH 20 (MExN): Nagaland Tree Planters' Association (NTPA) today expressed concern at the Nagaland Government’s purported move to ban export of timber outside the State, pointing out that this would adversely affect the livelihoods of hundreds of Naga families “genuinely involved in tree farming business.”
A press release from the NTPA media cell said that as per the Supreme Court “Right to Life which is a fundamental right under article 21 cannot be supported without the right to livelihood.”
It informed that the State Government is contemplating on adopting a policy to ban export of timbers that is done through wagon allotments on quarterly basis.
It acknowledged that the Nagaland Government “has every right to alter or enact laws concerning the state subject(s).” The NTPA however said that “a law that deprives her citizens to access right to livelihood would create a very negative image of our popular government.”
The association pointed out that in Nagaland, anything that has to do with tree farming and cultivation is done privately as a right of indigenous people to maintain their own ways of life, including the right to use resources in their own land.
The tree farming business in Nagaland, it said, follows all the norms and procedures as laid down by the government. This includes following the conversion criteria of timbers as set by High Powered Commission (HPC) constituted by the SIT, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change; payment of royalty to the state government at the rate of Rs. 42/- per Cft for round logs form (teak), GST @ of 18% irrespective of timber classes; realization of royalty on round log basis etc.
“The recent development which is going to put a ban on export of sawn timbers outside the state and permit export of finished goods only would have an unconventional brunt on us because of various factors involved,” it stated.
The NTPA informed that planters have to undergo four stages such as felling of trees, seasoning of timber, conversion and preservation of timber for the processing stage. Besides these, timbers are likely to crack, wrap, bend and decay, if not properly seasoned and not treated with preservatives.
“It requires careful regular maintenance, if not readily available, it proves to be costly. It is also susceptible to termite attack if not maintained properly. As timber is natural and cellular it moves with changes in climatic conditions and most timbers are prone to pests, rot, mold and fungi attacks,” it added.
The association further said that to produce finished goods, skilled labours are required, which is not readily available. This would also cost wastage of time, energy and investment in the long run, it stated. Further, the NTPA said that “finished products produced by us won't meet the eyes of the buyers in the metropolitan cities and in this modern digital age, our products cannot compete with the high tech furniture pieces.”
The major cause for the “distressful plight of the tree farmers in Nagaland,” according to the NTPA, is because they are small and marginal farmers, who are dependent on this trade alone for survival.
It pointed out that in Mizoram, the government recently allotted 588 teak wagons for the quarter till May 2020, wherein the tree farmers can export their cultivated goods in the forms of round logs. “Whereas in Nagaland, we hardly get provision for 30 to 40 wagons in general for one quarter and it is disheartening to learn that the government is deliberating on snatching away that facility,” it rued.
The NTPA therefore asked the government to put a hold on banning of timber export by wagons outside the state and continue with the old system of allowing export of timbers by-road within the NE States and allotment of wagons on quarterly basis for export of timbers outside the NE.
