The forests around the railway track started disappearing in the 1860’s.
- Need for sleepers: Sleepers were the basic inputs required for constructing a railway line. Each mile of a railway track required between 1700 to 2,000 sleepers. To meet this demand, large number of trees were felled.
- Fuel: To run locomotives, wood was needed as fuel. As railway was being spread throughout India, more and more wood was required which could be used as fuel.
- Expansion of railway tracks: From the 1860s, the railway network expanded rapidly. By 1890, about 25,500 km of track had been laid. Up to 1946, the length of the tracks had increased to over 7,65,000km. As the railway tracks spread throughout India, a large and large number of trees were felled. As early as the 1850s, in the Madras Presidency alone, 35,000 trees were being cut annually for sleepers.
- Contract to private individuals: The government gave out contracts to individuals to supply the required quantities. These contractors began cutting trees indiscriminately. Forests around the railway tracks started disappearing fast.
Read More – ‘The introduction of railways had an adverse impact on the forests’. Justify by giving examples.