Forest Department stands tough on wood for temple flag poles

The Forest Department has refused to supply for a deep discount the precious wood needed to make dhwajastambhams (flagstaffs) for various ancient temples in the state. Instead, it told temples they would have to buy the wood at market rates -- and even that offer is open “only once in the lifetime” of the temple.

The department issued orders Monday stating that given the depletion of forest cover, particularly -- teak and yepi, the wood sought for flagstaffs-- it is could at best supply lumber for the purpose only once to any any temple, but certainly not at the price asked for by the Endowments Department: Rs 5,000.

The Endowments Department had made a proposal in 2006 that temples with Rs 1 crore or more income should be asked to buy the required wood at market rates and those with less than Rs 1 crore income should be catered to for a nominal charge. The wood required for a dhwajasthambham may cost between Rs 40,000 and Rs 1 lakh. 

The chief conservator of forests stated that the trees that meet the specs for dhwajasthambhams grow only in a few forest divisions in the state, such as Bhadrachalam (S), Narsipatnam and Kakinada. Those sources too are fast depleting. Felling trees with the right morphological features fit for a temple flagstaff would serious deplete precious germplasm in the state’s forests, he said.

The department says good teak seed is in short supply in state, and therefore has to be sourced from other states. It went on to advise the government to rescind its orders altogether requiring the forest Deparment to supply wood for temple dhwajasthambhams. The very scheme of supplying wood to temples has to be stopped forthwith, it said. Several temples in the state are in need of wood to replace the old flagstaffs installed some centuries ago. Last year, the Tirchanur Padmavati temple replaced its flagstaff with wood brought from Tamil Nadu. The dhwajasthambham of the famous Mahanandi temple crumbled three years ago and the temple authorities have been searching since then for suitable wood for a 58 ft flag pole.