Bhubaneswar: The state government, Thursday, said that it has planned to procure 3 lakh quintal kendu leaves by the end of May 2020.
Forests department secretary Mona Sharma said the state has planned to procure kendu leaves and would pay the workers involved in forestry related activities. She said that the government has also sanctioned the funds to be paid as wages to the workers.
She said, “Kendu leaf plucking is a very prominent activity in Odisha. Odisha is the only state which has been processing it for being used for bidi production. For this bush cutting exercise is done. We had almost done the works by March end. There are around 2 lakh people who have worked with us for this.”
She also added, “We have paid around Rs 26 crore as wages under this till now. We have now planned to procure 3 lakh quintal kendu leaf. The process will continue till May. But the production depends on weather. There are around 6 lakh kendu leaf pluckers. We have planned to allocate Rs 170 crore as wages for them.”