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Herbal plantation: Orissa project
for hills
by Sarada Lahangir
Bolangir
(Bhubaneshwar): The Orissa Government has launched
a project to promote medicinal plantation at Gandhamardan
Hills in Bolangir District. The project also aims
at uplifting the tribals' life, residing in the hills'
vicinity, which are famous for their natural scenic
panorama of rivulets and medicinal plants. According
to the Divisional Forest Officer of the range, the
tribes are now earning much more than before as the
society purifies the minor forest produce and after
proper packing, sell them in the market. "This project
was launched with the help of the Centre and the State
Government. About 1.83 crores have been used for five
years and this is the third year of the project. The
main aim of the project is to preserve propagate and
conserve the rich bio- diversity of the Gandhamardan
Hills. Side by side this project has also improved
the economic condition of the villagers who are dependent
on the forest," said Sarat Mohanaty, Divisional Forest
Officer (DFO), Gandhamardan Range iof Bolangir. The
greenery of Gandhamardan Hills overlaps Bolangir and
Baergarh Districts, covering an area of nearly 18,629
hectares of reserved forest of land. Around 6512 hectares
of this land falls under Bolangir District alone.
Earlier, ignorant about the actual worth of medicinal
plants here, the tribals, living in Gandharmardan
range, 80 kilometres from Bolangir District, used
to be lured by middlemen, who purchased raw seeds,
leaves and fruits of these medicinal herbs. All these
years, the species of these plants were exploited
with no proper care and most of them had reached the
stage of extinction.
Realising
the danger posed by such disturbing trends, the Centre
and State governments proposed a plan to protect these
medicinal plants as well as raise the quality of tribals'
life. And later, the Vanaspati Vana project was set
up by the Vanaspati Vana Society. Under this project,
ten villages have been identified and local committees
in each village have been formed. "With the help of
the government, a Vanaspati Vana project has been
set up in the Gandhamardan Hills range in Bolangir
District. Ten villages near the Gandhamardan Hills
have been earmarked in as the local chapters of Vanaspati
Vana Society to look after the project," said Rajkumar
Bhoi, President of the Vanaspati Vana Society. According
to villagers, since the formation of this Society,
they have been earning enough to feed their family
and are happy about the working of the society. "After
the formation of Vanaspati Vana project, the forest
is being safe and also Gandhamardan. The medical plants,
which were being neglected and wasted in the past,
are being taken care of. Earlier, many fruits grown
in the forest, were being bought by local businessmen
from tribals at very cheap rates. After formation
of Vanaspati Society the prices are set up and we
sell accordingly. Seeing our success, Tribals from
other villages are selling now their produce to get
better prices," said Thabira Meher, a villager. The
tribals are protecting the forest and are also collecting
the minor forest produce and different roots of the
medical plants, which are useful for medicine and
can be sold at a good price.
- February 24, 2007
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