*The Light of Andamans :: Issue 32 :: 20 August 2007*
**
*Fading Timber Buildings*

The British had taught the people to use timber and timber alone for
construction of houses. They followed it with example during their Raj. The
people faithfully followed it till late sixties or early seventies when the
Andaman PWD committed the cardinal sin of raising a reinforced cement
concrete structure for its own office. Deputy Commissioner's office that was
gutted in a devastating fire in 1973 followed suite. And the RCC
construction caught the fancy of the people. In time, it became the status
symbol and finally the only way to build a house.
The Forest department extended a helping hand in weaning away the people
from timber construction. The price of sawn timber kept on spiralling to the
point where it almost became impossible to afford it. The rcc structure
looked cheaper and easier. Sand, cement, steel were comparatively much
cheaper and easily available.
Forest department was more interested in exporting logs that benefited all
in the chain. Less and less timber was sawn in the mill. Whatever was sawn,
people found that the sizes mostly used in construction would not be
available when needed. Non-availability and escalating cost of timber
sounded the death knell for the timber buildings.
Come 2002 Supreme Court order and the department was totally paralysed. Now
a new working plan is in operation but the extraction is so low that it can
hardly meet the demand even if someone wishes to build a timber house. The
quantity available is not enough to make doors and windows let alone a
building. Till two months back, the daily production was just 5 cubic metres
which has gone up to 10 cubic metres the Production Manager, Gopinathan told
LoA.
Out of these 10 cubic metres, only about 10% would be superior hardwood, 70%
standard, mostly Gurjan and 20% Padauk. Gurjan is not considered a good
timber for buildings. One cubic metre a day is too small a quantity to meet
any demand for timber.
No wonder that one finds even the doors and windows made of steel and
aluminium nowadays. It is not peoples choice, it is their compulsion.


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