Contractors body urges govt to sell more beedi leaves units in Telangana

Members of The Telangana State Beedi Leaves Forest Contracts Association urged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to take steps to sell maximum beedi leaves units in the State

Mancherial: Members of The Telangana State Beedi Leaves Forest Contracts Association urged Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to take steps to sell maximum beedi leaves units in the State. They submitted a representation to Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

The association president P Vara Prasad Rao, in a statement, said that neighboring states sold all the units, while 26 units out of the total 196 units in Telangana were sold so far. They said that the units could not be sold after March 15 because pruning of leaf shrubs was not possible once summer onsets. They stated that tribal people would earn around Rs 50,000 through collecting the leaves.

---

The members further said that the collection of beedi leaves was declining due to an extensive anti-tobacco campaign by the government. However, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra states are earning huge profits by way of selling the units. A bundle of 50 leaves is paid Rs 3 in Telangana, while the cost of the bundle in MP is Rs 4 and Chhattisgarh offers Rs 5.5 per bundle.