Chhattisgarh to get Herbal Medicine Conservation Areas

Raipur: Fifteen Herbal Medicine Conservation Areas would be developed in the forests of Chhattisgarh, for better conservation and optimal use of herbal medicinal plants, official sources have said.

These conservation areas would be developed under a project jointly sponsored by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoEF), sources said.

The centres, to be developed with a cost of Rs 16.85 crore, will be jointly implemented by the Central Government, National Herbal Plant Board, State Forest Department, State Herbal Medicine Board and several NGOs.

Meanwhile, officials of the Chattisgarh Herbal Medicine Board (CHMB) said that the State was amongst three others where the five-year project worth Rs 50.51 crores is being implemented. Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are the two other states where th e project will also be implemented. In Chhattisgarh, conservation areas would be established in three forest ranges namely Darva in Bastar, Sankra in Dhamtari and Marwahi in Bilaspur.

Each of the conservation areas will have 200 hectares of land where near extinct and threatened species of herbal medicinal plants would be planted and conserved, officials added.