Kappatagudda to be medicinal plant hub

The region, home to a unique diversity of rare medicinal and aromatic plants, has been threatened by wind power companies and anthropogenic pressure.

“The State Forest Department has decided to declare Kappatagudda a protected zone for conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants,” he told reporters here on Friday. He said a government order in this regard would be issued shortly.

Admitting that the region had been plagued by wind-farming companies, he said Kappatagudda was known as an abode of medicinal plants for thousands of years.
With regard to the future of windmills there, Vijayshankar said no new windmills would be allowed in the region.

No windmills

“Even a proposal from the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited to set up a wind energy plant at Kappatagudda has been rejected,” he said. The minister said an action plan would be chalked out to protect the forest areas from illegal mining.

A two-day workshop has been organised on May 2 and 3 by the State Forest Department and the Karnataka Medicinal Herbs Authority to focus on the all aspects of protecting rare medicinal plants.

The minister said the workshop, to be inaugurated by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa at the Vikasa Soudha, also aimed at meeting the commercial requirements of herbs by bringing all stakeholders on a single platform. The workshop has been organised in the wake of depleting diversity of medicinal and aromatic plants due to over-exploitation by industries.

The number of industries using herbs is increasing. Many of these firms, which had their base in the State for several decades, are now looking towards Chhattisgarh and Nepal to meet their requirements of raw material, as plants here are facing extinction.