Chhattisgarh Assembly: BJP slams govt for not ensuring good price for tendu leaves

The Chhattisgarh Assembly on Wednesday saw noisy scenes as Bharatiya Janata Party BJP MLAs accused the Congress government in the state of failing to provide good price to the tribals for tendu leaves collected from forest areas. The state government neither rolled out any scheme for the forest dwellers nor provided them the right price for tendu leaves collection, BJP MLAs alleged.

The Chhattisgarh Assembly on Wednesday saw noisy scenes as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs accused the Congress government in the state of failing to provide good price to the tribals for tendu leaves collected from forest areas. The chair rejected BJP MLAs' adjournment motion notice for discussion on the issue. Amid the ruckus, the proceedings were adjourned for five minutes. Raising the issue in the Zero Hour, former chief minister Raman Singh and other BJP MLAs accused the Congress of being “anti-tribal”.

The government, after coming to power in 2018, stopped the Charan Paduka scheme for tendu leaves collectors started by the previous BJP government, they alleged. In 2017, when the BJP was in power, 17.10 lakh sacks of tendu leaves (mainly used for `beedi' or leaf cigarette manufacutring) were collected and after auctioning, the forest committees received Rs 1,358 crore, the BJP claimed. But the collection declined to 13 lakh sacks in 2021 and the forest committees got only Rs 704 crore, the opposition party's MLAs claimed. The Congress government hiked the price of tendu leaves from Rs 2,500 per sack to Rs 4,000, but the forest-dwellers have been getting less money compared to what they earned during the BJP rule, they said. The state government neither rolled out any scheme for the forest dwellers nor provided them the right price for tendu leaves collection, BJP MLAs alleged. It led to further ruckus in the House as Congress MLAs countered the charges. As the chair rejected the demand for discussion on the issue, BJP members started shouting slogans against the state government. leading to an adjournment of proceedings for five minutes.