With rapid industrialisation taking over huge acres of forested area, undivided Sambalpur district is facing revenue shortage on Kendu leaf. The Kendu leaf trade is going down due to ongoing thermal power projects in the district.
The squeezing of open fields is directly affecting the trade seriously. As a result, two ranges and 37 Kendu leaf circles in Jharsuguda Kendu leaf division have been shut down due to lack of initiative by the State Government for its expansion.
In western Odisha, Jharsuguda division carries a special position. This division covers Rengali Tehsil of Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts and Hemgiri Tehsil of Sundargarh district. During 1983, the division was having nine ranges like Jharsuguda, Rengali, Sodamal, Bagdihi, Belpahar, Kadamdihi, Kanika, Duduka and Gopalpur . later in 1994, the ranges came down to eight with deletion of Sodamal range.
Further, during 2005, two ranges of Rengali and Bagdihi were merged with Jharsuguda range. Currently, the ranges in Jharsuguda division are only six. Similarly, during 2000, 395 circles were coming under the division, which again came down to 379 in 2005 and now only 342 ranges are left. During last one decade, two ranges and 37 circles have been closed.
Coming to production, in 1983, 17,661 quintals of Kendu leaf was produced, which came down to 13,965 quintal in 2013. Gradually, the Kendu leaf production has been facing a downward trend. Further, an attempt is also made to permanently close Jharsuguda range by some vested interests. However, the Kendu leaf Workers Union is vehemently protesting such an action by the Government. Besides industrialization, the dishonesty of private bidi companies can also be a reason for downward trend of Kendu leaf production. Again due to rapid industrialization, the green fields in the district are losing their identity due to pollution in the district which adversely affects the trade.