In an effort to help the herbal medicines industry and the raw material dealers in the state, the Chhattisgarh state government is initiating 'Herbal Mandi' (herbal market) project, a buyer-seller connecting programme soon. The pilot project, the first herbal mandi at Dhamtari district, will be finalised for establishment within 15 days, it is learnt.

The herbal mandi, a novel concept from the state government, is designed to enhance the relation between the herbal medicines manufacturing and the providers of raw materials - mainly dealers of herbal plants. The government will collect the commodity from the public and private herbal raw material dealers and will put the material for open auction after testing the quality.

As per the project, the raw materials will be sold to the highest bidder and the government will hand over the profit to the respective public, private dealers. In case of private dealers, the government will deduct handling charges and related charges before issuing the profit, informed S C Agarwal, chief executive officer, Chhattisgarh State Medicinal Plant Board and the chief conservator of forest.

Once evaluating the success of the pilot project, the government will set up more mandis for which, the officials have already identified almost 10 potential places. However, the proposals on governing body for the mandis are under consideration. The government has allocated Rs 25 lakh for three projects including the setting up mandi offices in the state budget.

"The government is on final discussion for execution and we expect the project to be initiated by the end of this year. One of the suggestions or the initial thought is to assign the Forest Development Agency as the executing body for the mandis," informed Agarwal. "This project can even help the herbal companies from the other states, as we will announce the information about the auctions and the companies from various parts of the country are welcome to the procedure. With the project, we even have potential to conduct e-tender," he added.

Chhattisgarh is one of the mega biodiversity states of India with 44 per cent of its total geographical area having forests. According to the government sources, the state is the home for more than 1500 medicinally valuable plant species. The Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), Bangalore, has earlier prepared a medicinal plant database for 1525 medicinal plants species in the state. The joint forest management committees and primary minor forest produce societies of the forest department are distributing more than 100 herbal plant based drugs and dietary supplements in the brand name of Chhattisgarh Herbal in the state.

The state soon will have the India's largest medicinal plant cultivation project from D S Group, New Delhi in an area of 15000 acres expected to be completed with an investment of Rs 874 crore in a project duration of 15 years, added the official. The state government is keen to promote the cultivation, processing and sales of herbal medicinal plants in Chhattisgarh and a large number of projects including Sushrut Van project to create rich repository of herbal resources and a herbal help line to promote herbal cultivation.