Hari Kant

Abstract

The world is facing energy crisis. Efforts are being made to find alternative sources of energy. Forests provide energy in the form of fuelwood and charcoal. Present harvesting techniques are very wasteful. Energywise, the logging waste on account of billeting of fuelwood by axe alone is equivalent to 4,72,200 wagons of soft coke Or 7041.8 megawatt hours of electricity, which is six times the installed capacity of Bhakra-Nangal Dam. Wood waste in the form of chips left in the coniferous forests on account of in-situ conversion is equivalent to another 0.4 million m³ of fuelwood. In some areas eg. Andamans islands, lot of wood is left behind in the forest as logging residue. It can be used for charcoal manufacture and supply to distant places. If requisite infrastructure is developed in the potentially exploitable are not utilised so far, about 6.05 million m³ of fuelwood (eqivalent to 36 million tonnes of soft coke or 2720 megawatts of electricity) can be made available. Replacement of axe by saw and development of infrastructure in the remote areas will be useful in meeting the energy shortage to a great extent.

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Hari Kant , K. G. Sood

Abstract

Since Independence more and more roads are being constructed in foreat areas and trucks have almost monopolised the mode of long distance transportation in the plains as well as in foot hill forests. The present time and cost study has been made to find out the impact of various road standards on the cost of timber transportation by trucks. The observations made in this paper will help in proper planning of road and harvesting programme in similar forest areas.

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Hari Kant , K. G. Sood

Abstract

Bulk of the forests in the hills are still exploited by the conventional methods comprising of felling by axes and saws and conversion in-situ by frame saws. This involves huge wastage from 50% to 63% The main reasons for not changing over to modern logging techniques are difficulty in handling logs and non-availability of heavy forest machinery indigenously at reasonable cost. If the logs are transported to a portable sawmill, a great proportion of the above wastage can be avoided. Manual transport of logs is time consuming and costly. Transportation by long distance Skyline Cranes is quicker and cheaper. This study bas been conducted on the economics of timber transportation by aindependent of the load. As such, it will be most economical if the machine is used for the full prescribed load capacity. The cost of long distance transportation by Wyssen Crane bas been worked out to be Rs. 26.44 per cu metre, of which about 50% is on account of the interest and depreciation of machinery. It is, therefore, inferred that if indigenously manufactured Skyline Cranes can be made available at reasonable price, the cost of extraction would be considerably reduced.

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Hari Kant , K. G. Sood

Abstract

Off-road transportation or the transport of timber from the stump to the road side (from where it is loaded on a truck) is a very costly item and there is great scope for economising on this item of expenditure. in the plains, the trucks can sometimes be taken to individual stumps but in semi-hilly terrain, and ravined areas or on bouldry surface, very often off-road transportation upto about 200 metres is involved. This cannot be done economically without adopting mechanisation. The most useful equipment for this purpose is a tractor with mechanical attachment like wich, loading device, calliper grabs etc. The present study has been condacted on Indigenously available Massey Ferguson-1035 tractor with calliper grab attachment and the imported Massey Ferguson-165 tractor withloading device attachment and trailer. For the latter tractor, two different studies were made, one by taking to tractor to individual logs and loadlng them on the trailer and the other by keeping the tractor stationery and dragging the logs over 5 to 10 metres distance by the tractor winch and then loading them on the trailer,the results show that the indigenously as against Massey Ferguson-1035 tractor with calliper grab is definitly superior to the imported Massey Ferguson-165 tractor with loading device attachment and tractor trailer. The daily operating cost for Massey Ferguson-1035 tractor bas been worked out as Rs. 75.84 as against Rs. 197.18 for Massey Ferguson-165 tractor. The daily average production for the two tractors for a lead of 175 metres bas been worked out to be 28.84 and 26.47 cu metres respectively and the cost per cu m for the same lead bas been found to be Rs. 3.85 and Rs. 7.46 respectively.

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Hari Kant , K. G. Sood

Abstract

At present, felling in most of the forests in India is being done either by axe, axe and two man cross cut saw or two man cross-cut saw alone, the most common tool being the peg-toothed cross cut saw. Power chain saws have also been occasionally used, but no (scientific planning) of the felling operations has been done anywhere so far. This study has been made to compare the time gained in and the relative economics of felling by Power chain saw as compared to the Raker cutter saw and the Peg-toothed saw. It has been observed that a break-even point between Power chain saw and Raker saw is reached in 20-25cm diameter range and that between Power chain saw and Peg toothed saw is reached in 15-20 cm diamter range. It has also been seen that power chain saw is 27% to 60% more economical in 25-60 cm diameter ranges and 33% to 100% less economical in 10-20 cm diameter ranges as compared to raker saw. As compared to peg toothed saw the power chain saw is 100% costlier in 10-15 cm diameter range and 12% to 71% cheaper for 20 cm to 60 cm diameter range. Peg toothed saw is 14% to 37% costlier as compared to raker saw.

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