March 13, 2015
Pratima Mandal raises issue of honey collectors in Sunderbans | Transcript
Full transcript:
Sir, Sunderbans is the world’s largest continuous mangrove forest. It is known for its Royal Bengal Tiger and is also famous for its honey collected from, a large cluster of bee-hives. The honey collectors, locally known as moulis, are mostly living at Gosaba, Hingalganj and Basanti block of Sunderbans.
They collect honey from the dense forest, by risking their life. Since, it involves good expense and, as they are economically unsound, they take money from money lenders, who are locally known as mahajans. The money lenders take high rate of interest and also a good share of honey or collectors are forced to sell the honey at a fixed low rate. It is very painful.
If the Government takes some safety measures and allots funds, then they can save their lives and reduce their hardship.
