As many as 6.75 lakh standard bags of tendu patta arrivals had been registered so far with collections valued at Rs8.10 crore during the current picking season in Chhattisgarh’s forests.
The State Government has set a summer season target of 16.43 lakh standard bags of tendu patta arrivals through a total of 892 primary forest produce co-operative committees.
The Government had been paying wages at the rate of Rs 1,200 per standard bag of tendu patta to the families involved in collection of tendu patta which were brought into an estimated 10,000 collection centres of the co-operative committees in the State, according to an official statement issued here on Friday.
The work of tendu patta collection would continue prior to the arrival of the monsoons in Chhattisgarh. The current collection exercise for tendu patta in all the 27 distrcts of the state would open employment opportunities for an estimated 13.76 lakh families in Chhattisgarh.
It may be mentioned that the State Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Raman Singh had raised the wage per standard bag of tendu patta from Rs1,100 per bag to Rs1,200 per bag.
An official of Chhattisgarh State Small Forest Produce Co-operative Federation informed here on Friday that so far 20,177 standard bags of tendu patta had arrived from Bijapur Forest Circle, Sukma Forest Circle (9,247), Dantewada Forest Circle (20,877), Jagdalpur Forest Circle (26,163), South Kondagaon Forest Circle (23,453), North Kondagaon Forest Circle (28,289), Narayanpur Forest Circle (20,382).
Further, East Bhanupratapur Forest Circle (58,524), West Bhanuprapatpur Forest Circle (13,339), Kanker Forest Cricle (38,466), Rajnandgaon Forest Circle (44,277), Khairagarh Forest Circle (15,492), Durg Forest Circle (16,972), Kavardha Forest Circle (13,802), Dhamtari Forest Circle (23,377), Udanti Forest Circle (22,827),East Raipur Forest Circle (56,945), Mahasamund Forest Circle (73,370), Raipur Forest Circle (14,931), Bilaspur Forest Circle (13,146), Marwahi Forest Circle (9,064), Janjgir-Champa Forest Circle ( 6,378).
Also, Raigarh Forest Circle (43,190), Korba Forest Circle (25,726), Katghora Forest Circle (407), Jashpur Nagar Forest Circle (18,552), Menendragarh Forest
Circle (4,913), Koriya Forest Circle (2,162), South Sarguja Forest Circle (10,614), East Sarguja Forest Circle (160) and North Sarguja Forest Circle (1,652).