Sale of Timber Through HimKaashth Mobile App

1. The HimKaashth app, introduced by the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation, offers a digital platform for transparent and efficient forest produce auctions.
2. Available in Hindi and English, the mobile application enables users to register, complete KYC verification, and participate in seamless trading directly from their smartphones.
3. Participants can explore detailed lot listings—including timber species, quality grades, and reserve prices—before engaging in real-time bidding.
4. The platform features instant bid updates, maximum bid limits, and auto-bidding capabilities to ensure fair market competition.
5. Through a user dashboard, bidders can manage their profiles, track upcoming auctions, and monitor notifications.
6. Ensuring complete confidence in the bidding process, every transaction on the app is securely recorded and fully traceable.
7. Winning bidders benefit from integrated payment gateways that accept diverse methods such as UPI, net banking, and demand drafts, alongside generating instant digital receipts.
8. Beyond placing bids, the platform provides comprehensive post-auction management; users can download official invoices, review transaction histories, and track their purchased lots from confirmation through to final delivery.
9. This paperless, highly accessible approach offers thousands of participants a streamlined and modernised trading experience.

A Golden Opportunity for Farmers

Promoting Agroforestry with Fair Prices

Farmers across Uttarakhand grow trees on their agricultural land as a means of generating additional income and contribute to environmental sustainability. However, in the absence of an organized and transparent market system, they often struggle to receive a fair price. Due to dependence on local traders and middlemen, timber is frequently sold at lower rates, reducing the overall benefit to farmers and discouraging further plantation.

Recognizing this challenge, the UKFDC has taken an important step to support farmers and strengthen agroforestry practices. In an effort to promote agroforestry with assured fair price for trees like eucalyptus and poplar, Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation proposes to directly purchase eucalyptus and poplar trees from farmers. This initiative ensures a fair, transparent, and reliable system for the sale of farm-grown timber.

Highlights

• Direct purchase from farmers
• Eliminates middlemen
• Fair and transparent pricing
• Standardized measurement system for timber valuation
• Direct payment to farmers' bank accounts
• All procedures of transit permits and transportation is borne by UKFDC

Takeaways

Farmers will benefit from a secure and transparent selling system, leading to increased income and renewed confidence in agroforestry. This initiative will encourage wider adoption of agroforestry and contributes to environmental conservation and rural economic growth.

A Citizen Connect Initiative

"Retail Timber Sale for Locals"

Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation has introduced a simple, transparent and citizen-friendly system for timber (wood) purchase, enabling the residents to directly visit designated retail/phutkar depots and purchase timber. It allows citizens to directly select and purchase timber from the depots. It ensures convenience, trust, and satisfaction for every customer's personal needs like house construction, furniture or any other domestic use.

The Process

• Eliminates unnecessary delays and complications making the process convenient and satisfactory
• No auction or bidding process involved. Citizens may visit the retail/phutkar depot, inspect the available timber, and choose the logs that best suit their requirements
• The selected timber is measured and priced transparently as per approved government rates depending on the type, size, and quality of the timber
• Timber is made available to the buyer after payment, ensuring a smooth and efficient experience without a waiting period
• To ensure that resources are distributed fairly amongst the beneficiaries, a maximum of 5 cum. of timber will be given for house construction purposes, while up to 2 cum. will be given for furniture or other purposes
• Eliminates the role of middlemen and protects citizens from unfair pricing practices. Needless to say, the quality of timber is assured by UKFDC

The Requirements

• An application along with identity proof like Aadhaar/PAN card will be required
• An approved building plan may be provided where requirement is for construction purposes