Raipur, 18 May 2021. In Chhattisgarh, according to the intention of presently Chief Minister Shri Bhupesh Baghel, the work of collection of tendu leaves under the guidance of Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar is going on fast. During the current year 2021, about 8 lakh 16 thousand 433 standard sacks of tendu leaves have been collected so far from the target. This year, the target is to collect 16 lakh 71 thousand standard sacks of Tendu Leaves. Its storage rate has been fixed at Rs 4 thousand per standard bag in the year 2021.
Forest Minister Shri Akbar said that at present in this difficult time of corona crisis, the work of tendu leaf collection has become an important support for the tendu leaf collector families including tribal and forest dwellers. With this, the work of collection of Tendu Leaves during the current year in about 13 lakhs in the state has started from the last week of April and till now the work of collection has reached close to half of the target. Managing Director State Small Forest Produce Association Mr. Sanjay Shukla informed that in these 5 forest divisions Sukma, Bijapur, Gariaband, Kanker and Keshkal, 70 to 75 percent of the target has been collected. Similarly, in the state so far, forest cover is 72 percent in Bijapur, Sukma, Dantewada and Jagdalpur forest divisions of Jagdalpur and 57 in South Kondagaon, Keshkal, Narayanpur, East Bhanupratappur, West Bhanupratappur and Kanker forest divisions of Kanker forest. Up to 64 percent of tendu leaves have been collected. Similarly, 48 percent has been collected under Rajnandgaon, Khairagarh, Balod and Kawardha forest divisions and up to 64 percent in Dhamtari, Gariaband, Mahasamund and Balodabazar forest divisions under Vanvrita fort. Under forest cover Bilaspur, 44 percent has been collected in Bilaspur, Marwahi, Janjgir-Champa, Raigad, Dharamjigarh, Korba and Katghora forests and up to 26 percent in Jashpur, Manendragarh, Korea, Surguja, Balrampur and Surajpur under Surguja forest.
