Rare medical plants being exploited

Lalit Mohan

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Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, August 7

Rare medicinal herbs are being exploited with impunity in Kangra and the adjoining districts of Chamba and Mandi. Nag Chatri, a rare medicinal herb, was confiscated by forest officials from smugglers recently.

Berberry Aristata or Kashmal plant is being uprooted and exported out of Himachal illegally on a large scale. Piles of uprooted Kashmal plants were found along the Baijnath-Mandi road. Inquiries revealed that plants have been uprooted from roadsides by local people who sell them for petty sums to ayurvedic drug companies within and outside the state.

The area on which extraction was being carried out falls along the borders of Kangra and Mandi district. The area has rich growth of Kashmal herbs but is now threatened by over-exploitation.

The roots of Kashmal plants have medical value. People dig them from roots and sell them to pharmaceutical companies.

The people from the area alleged that large-scale illegal extraction of medicinal plant from hills was leading to landslides during monsoons. They said people dig about 5-foot-deep pits to extract its roots. These pits loosen the earth along roadsides leading to landslides.

Senior forest officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that earlier the DFO used to issue export permits of Kashmal plant. However, due to over-exploitation of the herb, the Forest Department has banned its extraction and export from the state. If some people are extracting Kashmal plants from roots, it is illegal, they said.