Dr Mohan Yadav, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, will be attending training awareness and incentive bonus distribution programme for members of primary forest produce co-operative societies in Mandla on October 4.
Mohan Yadav will hand out 9,04,126 collectors in eight forest divisions with tendu leaf collection bonuses worth Rs 36.17 crore during the programme. The collected people are of the villages of East Mandla, West Mandla, Dindori, Jabalpur, North Seoni, South Seoni, North Balaghat and South Balaghat.
The Chief Minister will also hand over Rs 26.56 crore as timber divident to members of 84 forest committees in East and West Mandla. The total amount of the two distributions is over ₹62 crore.
The programme aims to enhance the socio-economic situation of forest produce dependent families and prioritise the role of the tendu leaf collectors and members of the forest committee.
The tendeh leaves are also an important minor forest product for many communities in Madhya Pradesh that live in forests. The bonus distribution is in accordance with the cooperative forest produce system in force since 2013 in which the collectors receive extra income on the selling of the collected produce.
Yadav would also visit Pandhurna district during the day and would lay foundation stone for various developmental projects and officially inaugurate them. He will also attend the programme of Seva Mera Yogdan with Sandipani School, Pandhurna and join the District Development Advisory Committee meeting.
It is expected that the Mandla programme will be able to mobilise the beneficiaries and representatives of forest cooperative societies from various districts. The government has placed the financial distributions under the umbrella of helping families in forest areas, and building the economic security of forest-dependent families.