Tendu fetches low royalty of Rs 26.37 crore this year
   Date :24-Apr-2020

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By Ramesh Marulkar :
 
Forest Department received all time low royalty of Rs 26.37 crore in the last couple of years by way of e-auctioning of tendu leaves this year. It had received royalty of Rs 38 crore last year. The department started auctioning tendu leaves by putting as many as 3,08,153 standard bags on sale through 279 tendu units in non-scheduled areas from December 2019. So far it held five rounds of auctions during which as many as 1,39,250 standard bags of tendu leaves from 105 units were sold at Rs 23.16 crore in Gachiroli, Chandrapur, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, Nagpur, Pench Tiger Reserve, Yavatmal, Aurangabad and Dhule circles. Nagpur Forest Circle topped the list during five rounds of auction by selling 97,105 standard bags, fetching Rs 9.47 crore, followed by Chandrapur circle, where 43,600 notified yield from 33 tendu units were sold, bringing Rs 6.37 crore. Gadchiroli circle stands at third position with selling of 36,855 standard bags from 21 units, worth Rs 4.47 crore.
 
The lowest amount fetched in Aurangabad circle is Rs 1.87 lakh. This was disclosed by T K Choubey, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (NTFP), Nagpur, while talking to ‘The Hitavada’ here on Thursday. As many as 174 tendu units were kept on sale in the sixth round held on Thursday. Of them, proposals for 40 units were sent to the State Government as the department failed to get upset price. The offer amount for these units is tentatively Rs 3.21 crore for 39,100 standard bags, totalling the royalty amount to Rs 26.37 crore, he added. It is reported that there will be no auction for the remaining standard bags now. Only 24 bidders from Maharashtra and nearby states like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh participated in e-auction this time.
 
It may be mentioned here that during the tenure of Late Ramanuj Choudhari the royalty figure had even crossed Rs 150 crore eight years ago. However, the income figure has gone down considerably due to various reasons during last three/four years. Attributing the low turn-out to Corona virus, Choubey said that coronavirus pandemic and lockdown has given a set back considerably to the auction. Moreover, there is no much demand for tendu leaves from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and other nearby states. Over 1.50 lakh labourers from Vidarbha are involved in tendu business in April and May. They get wages for plucking the leaves, preparing bundles, drying them at the units.
 
Moreover, the government provides them bonus from the royalty amount by deducting 12 per cent establishment and other expenditure. Each family of labourer used to get over Rs 10,000 to Rs 15, 000 as bonus that they it could use for marriage of daughters, education of sons or house-hold purpose. If the royalty amount is already less then they cannot look for a substantial amount as bonus this year.