Not allowed to collect herbs in Kangra district, tribals upset

Tribals of Bara Bhangal and Chota Bhangal areas of Kangra district are upset as forest officials are not allowing them to harvest herbs in nearby forests. They say that their families have been collecting herbs from forests for centuries and the Forest Rights Act provides them legal right to gather forest produce. They also allege that the failure of the Forest Department to allow them to collect herbs legally was leading to illegal trade of herbs.

Pawana, a resident of the Bara Bhangal area, says that forest officials are not allowing the tribals to collect and take these to open markets. As a result, the residents of Bara and Chota Bhangal are being forced to sell the herbs collected from forest areas illegally to traders.

Akshay Jasrotia, an activist, who has been fighting for the forest rights of tribals, says that as per the Forest Rights Act, tribals have the right to graze animals and collect forest produce. The district-level committee formed in Kangra to implement the Forest Rights Act has also endorsed the rights of the tribals to collect and sell herbs. Under the Act, panchayats have the rights to issue permits to their residents to collect herbs from forest and sanctuary areas. However, the field-level forest officials, including forest guards, and block-level officials, are still not allowing locals to gather and sell herbs from forest areas. This is leading to illegal trade of herbs, he alleges.

The DFO, Dharamsala, Sanjeev Sharma, says that the collection of herbs from forest or sanctuary areas has been regulated. The Forest Department allows extraction of herbs from forest areas only once every four years to avoid over-extraction of herbs.

He says that to take out herbs from forest areas, traders must register with the Forest Department. They will have to obtain an export permit from the Forest Department to take out herbs. About the rights of the panchayats to allow the extraction of herbs from forests in their vicinity, the DFO says that earlier panchayats were allowed to give permits for the extraction of some herbs. However, those rights have now been withdrawn and one has to obtain a permit from the Forest Department.

Some herbs that have known medicinal value such as tejpatta, kala zara, ratanjot, kashmal and mitha telia are found commonly in the wild of Himachal. However, in view of the over-exploitation by pharmaceutical companies, 55 such herbs are on the verge of extinction.

However, the tribals allege that they have been taking herbs from forests for centuries and have never over-exploited them. Instead, the forest contractors with commercial interests are over-extracting herbs from forests.