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Labour

Travelling on the Firewood Express

Left with few livelihood options, Adivasis and Dalits from villages on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh take the train to various towns to sell firewood and earn a few hundred rupees after a hard day.

Every morning, people from various villages – most of them from Adivasi and Dalit communities – come to Manikpur railway junction in Chitrakoot district of Uttar Pradesh. They come by shared jeeps and auto-rickshaws, or by bicycles, from villages in a 100-kilometre radius. Carrying hundreds of bundles of firewood – each weighing between 20 and 50 kilos – from the Patha forests on the border of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

People's Archive of Rural India, Firewood

Cutting wood, which will later be taken to the Manikpur railway junction and other stations, and then to markets in various towns along the train route. Credit: Akshay Gupta/People’s Archive of Rural India

People's Archive of Rural India, Firewood, labour

Women crossing the sluice gate of a dam, carrying their daily load of firewood. Credit: Akshay Gupta/People’s Archive of Rural India

Selling these in nearby markets is a stable source of income for the families. Though laws related to the preservation of trees debar tree-cutting, the local communities who depend on selling firewood have little or no productive land. Their only other regular source of income is daily wages at construction sites in nearby towns.

People's Archive of Rural India, Firewood, Labour

Crossing a tributary of the Mandakini river after collecting wood from the nearby forest. Credit: Akshay Gupta/People’s Archive of Rural India

People's Archive of Rural India, Firewood, Labour

Carrying the heavy loads of firewood across rivers, roads and railways. Credit: Akshay Gupta/People’s Archive of Rural India

They take the bundles of wood – mainly of the tendu and palash tree – by passenger trains from Manikpur, from Karwi (around 30 kilometres from Manikpur), or from Shankargarh, around 80 kilometres away, to various towns along the train route to Allahabad.

People's Archive of Rural India, Firewood, Labour

Waiting to load the firewood on the train at Shankargarh station. Credit: Akshay Gupta/People’s Archive of Rural India

People's Archive of Rural India, Firewood, Labour

The train approaches the town of Chitrakoot Dham (Karwi), where some will get off to sell the logs. Credit: Akshay Gupta/People’s Archive of Rural India

At the end of the day, they earn between Rs 150-300, depending on the dryness and quality of the firewood, and the season’s demand for fuel.

People's Archive of Rural India, Firewood, Labour

Unloading the huge bundles one by one when the train stops at Jasra. Credit: Akshay Gupta/People’s Archive of Rural India

People's Archive of Rural India, Firewood, Labour

Exhausted, returning from the daily chaos of survival. Selling firewood barely brings Rs. 100-300 a day, depending on quality, weather and demand. Credit: Akshay Gupta/People’s Archive of Rural India

No names have been used in this story because the firewood-sellers didn’t want to be named.

Akshay Gupta is a freelance photojournalist from Chitrakoot Dham (Karwi), now based in Delhi.

This article was originally published in the People’s Archive of Rural India on October 9, 2018.