Bhopal, Balaghat: Fear of Maoists has cast a shadow over the collection of Tendu leaves in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh, official sources said on Monday. According to reports, a huge quantity of Tendu leaves has grown this year and locals think they will harvest a good amount of profit.
They are all smiles, but the fear of Maoists has spoilt their prospects of earning some extra bucks. Because of that fear, the work has been going on at a snail’s pace for the past five days, sources said. The contractors are worried about it, as they think they will not be able to meet the target for collecting Tendu leaves set by the government this year. A sum of Rs 200 crore is spent on collecting Tendu leaves, and 5,000 people work for collecting it.
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Tribal people of the district generally work as labourers for collecting the leaves and they get wages for this work. The places where the Tendu leaves are being collected are Bithli, Pathri, Davri and Choria. Maoists rule the roost in these areas. The contractors through whom the collection of Tendu leaves is being done said that for fear of Naxals gathering Tendu leaves had become very slow.
They further said that they were under pressure because of the directives issued by the district administration and the scare of the Maoists. The police officers and the constables are keeping an eye on the contractors and on those who are coming to meet them. The cops have issued an instruction to the contractors asking them to make payments to their office staff and to the labourers at the police station, sources in the district administration said.
The contractors have informed the officials of the forest department about the instructions of the police, as the foresters are responsible for upkeep of Tendu leaf trees. Tendu leaves are used to make bidis. If the strictness of the police department and the fear of Maoists continue, it will be difficult for them to complete the work on time and to meet the target for collecting leaves, the contractors said.
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The police officials, on the other hand, said that they were watching the Maoists, so that they might not get a single penny either from the contractors or from the officials of the administration. According to reports, the officials and the contractors involved in collecting Tendu leaves send a huge amount of money to the Maoists. A huge quantity of Tendu leaves is collected from Balaghat district and it is done through 60 primary cooperative societies. The work has begun from May 1 this year.
