Madurai :

At a time when environmentalists are urging people to plant more trees, here’s a village in Madurai where a majority of residents work as woodcutters. More than a 100 men of Poigaikaraipatti village have been woodcutters for years now. “People prefer woodcutters from our village, whenever trees are to be felled,” says V Chinnathambi, himself a woodcutter for more than two decades.

Earlier, people here used to work on farms. “But due to shortage of rain, we found it difficult to do farming or find farm-related work. So, many people started looking for jobs outside the village,” says Chinnathambi. That’s how many of the gravitated to cutting trees.

Now, contractors call them whenever a tree needs to be felled. If there is work, woodcutters leave the village early in the morning and work at the site till 5pm. “After lunch, we are provided snacks and tea. We are paid Rs 400 for a day’s work,” says K Veerakumar, another woodcutter.

But all isn’t well with their adopted profession either. Trees can’t be chopped any more at will. There aren’t, of course, many trees to cut. Moreover, stringent norms are in place to ensure that trees are protected whenever and wherever possible. This means woodcutters have less work these days.

“Many days we have no work at all. However, we manage because of the various government schemes. Our children study in government schools and we procure most of the essential commodities from ration shops or accesse them through the government’s public distribution scheme,” Veerakumar said.
Most families have very few demands except for quality education for their children. “Government should ensure that they provide quality education at government schools. We can not afford to send our children to private schools due to the exorbitant fees charged by them. Hence, government should ensure that they provide quality education. This will ensure a safe and bright future for our children,” says M Periya Kaalai, another woodcutter.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / February 20th, 2014