question_answer

              What was the effect of laying down of railway lines on forests?

Answer:

                  (i) As early as the 1850s, in the Madras Presidency alone 35,000 trees were being cut annually for sleepers. (ii) The government gave out contracts to individuals to supply the required quantities. (iii) These contractors began cutting trees indiscriminately. Forests around the railway tracks started disappearing fast.