The establishment and implementation of such a policy remains one of India's most urgent and important problems. Under the policy laid down in 1894, the uses of forests in India have been confined very largely to supply railway sleepers, furniture, and house-building materials. The bulk of the valuable hardwoods is reserved for railway sleepers but the supply is inadequate and sleepers of timber and steel are imported. For household purposes large imports of teak come from Burma. Indian forests have scattered hardwood trees, which makes economic exploitation difficult.
Consumers are reluctant to use any timber other than that belonging to the primary species.
Every year many millions of bamboos are cut in India and used for making paper, baskets, scaffolding, fences, etc. Twenty-five to thirty bamboos are cut from each clump once every four years, those left being carefully spaced. India has great plans for industrial expansion based on the use of structural steel, which is in short supply. Can treated timber replace structural steel to any extent, Experience has shown that it can in the construction of highway bridges to a certain extent, and it can be used for telegraph and telephone poles, roof trusses for factories, godowns, workshops, and airplane hangars. The cheapest steel in the world is produced in Belgium, yet Belgium finds it more economical to use treated timber for telegraph and telephone poles.