Accelerated tree felling, urbanisation, smuggling of timber and the extraction of rootstock completed degraded the Dhani forest by 1980. This caused 5 villages to come together to save the forest and its natural resources. These villages formed the Dhani Panch Mouja Jungle Surakshya Samiti and implemented rules and regulations to regenerate the forest in 1987. Out of a total area of 2200 hectares, 839.75 hectares was being protected. These rules were followed until 1991 after which many conflicts started coming up. This prompted the Jungle Surakshya Samiti to revise their rules and reconstitute their main committee. In 1995, the Samiti was formalised as a Forest Protection Committee (FPC) under the Joint Forest Management programme (JFM). This benefitted the village by bringing more funding though later on the lopsided power dynamics created considerable tension in the process of devolution of power to the local communities under the JFM framework.