Stories
How Gujarat's Balethi Village Revived Barren Forests and Became a Centre of Excellence.
- •Residents of Balethi village in Surat district came together to successfully restore dried-up forests through strict rules and community effort.
- •Villagers formed 15 teams with one member from each household to actively protect and monitor the forests.
- •To reduce pressure on the forests, 162 biogas plants and four check dams were constructed.
- •The village earned over 17.7 lakh rupees by selling bamboo, while milk production and fodder availability increased significantly.
- •The government approved converting the old school into a training centre to train 7500 people from 2500 forest committees.
Key Questions Answered
Village elders Jagudada and Kishor Chaudhary inspired residents to protect the forests after severe droughts between 1986 and 1988. The community formed 15 monitoring teams with a member from each household, established 162 biogas plants and four small dams, and fairly distributed forest produce like grass, bamboo, and wood.
Forest conservation significantly boosted the village income, increasing monthly milk production to around 12,000 to 13,000 liters and fodder production by seven times. Selling bamboo generated over Rs 17.7 lakh, while the forest department funded more than Rs 59.4 lakh in development works such as water pipelines, roads, and sewing training.
Balethi village received the prestigious 'Indira Priyadarshini Vraksha Mitra Award' in 1998 along with Rs 50,000 and a citation. Building on this success, a local old school is being converted into a training center to train 7,500 people from 2,500 Gujarat forest committees over the next five years.
