"We had a highest ever production of kendu leaf in the last over a decade and the record production will generate more than Rs 20 crore revenue," said Swarnaditya Sahay, Commissioner of Palamu division.
Altogether, we had 3,59,598.6 sacks of specified size of kendu leaf production in 2012, which was highest ever during the last over a decade, he claimed.
The disclosure was made soon after a meeting of Kendu Leaf Advisory Committee, in which senior officials from Forest department also took part.
Sahay said it has been decided in the meeting that a recommendation would be sent to the state government to hike the wages of the labourers involved in this sector to Rs 850 per sack from the existing Rs 700.
We are expecting revenue of more than Rs 20 crore from the Kendu leaf, which would also be a record revenue generation, he added.