Over 14,000 quintals of forest produce collected in Chhattisgarh

The Project Elephant Division of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India, organized a two-day national workshop on "Policy Implementation for Minimizing Elephant Mortalities on Railway Tracks" at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, on 10-11 March 2026, according to an official release.

Manish Dhuppad from the Chhattisgarh Mini Steel Plant Association warned that the situation might worsen, affecting production costs and prices.

Divisional Forest Officer Avinash Pandey, while speaking to ANI, said, "We found a 3-4 days-old (leopard) cub in the Chhajlet area. We rescued it and tried to reunite it with its mother. We kept it for 36 hours, but couldn't find its mother. So, we sent it to the deer park for care..."

During the Question Hour on the second day of the Budget Session in the Assembly today, Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal shared that to eliminate the root cause of fires in pine forests, 5,532 tonnes of pine needles were purchased from villagers in 2025. The target has now been increased to 8,555 tonnes. The government's objective is to collect pine needles so that the chances of forest fires can be reduced to a minimum.

In an X post, the IAF shared the images and videos of the widespread blaze in the areas and the efforts to douse the flames with the Mi-17 V5 helicopter.