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Villagers threaten not to bid for cashewnut plucking lease

BERHAMPUR: With flowering of the cashew plants, the issue of lease in nut plucking in cashew jungles has come into sharp focus in coastal areas of Ganjam district.

Inhabitants of 26 villages of five panchayats of Chikiti and Rangeilunda blocks of Ganjam district have threatened not to take nut plucking lease next year if the police and administration do not take strict action against some miscreants active in the area.

During nut plucking season in the last three decades, these villagers had been taking on lease six cashew jungles of more than 500 hectares under the Soil Conservation Department of the State Government .

It was providing good seasonal income to villagers and revenue to the Government. But during last nut plucking season some miscreants had threatened the villagers against taking cashew jungles on lease. They had also burnt down large portions of a cashew jungle. It had led to tense situations and many villagers involved in cashew nut plucking were beaten up by the miscreants.

The villagers had made complaints and organised demonstrations in protest against it.

As only one of the five cashew jungles could be leased out then, the State Government suffered a revenue loss of around Rs. 1 crore. Without legal lease the nut plucking from the area surely led to generation of black money in some pockets.

The Soil Conservation Department has again come up with tender for these six cashew jungles for the next plucking season.

The villagers have written to the State Revenue Minister, the Home Secretary and the Director-General of Police, demanding police action against miscreants who may again try to disrupt cashew plucking in the area.

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