Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, forest minister R.C. Laloo said the rule would help check illegal sale of medicinal plants and facilitate proper preservation of the existing medicinal plants.
Laloo said the government would also constitute a Meghalaya bio-diversity board with active participation of forest department officials.
He said the government was committed to ensure that piracy and smuggling of medicinal plants are checked.
Laloo said the proposed rule would help the state take punitive action on those who sell the medicinal plants in the open market.
According to the report of the state level planning committee, Meghalaya has 850 species of medicinal plants, 377 of which are used by at least 80 per cent of the state’s population for primary healthcare needs. Out of this, 74 medicinal and aromatic plants have high therapeutic value.
According to the report, species like Nepenthes khasiana and Piper peepuloides, endemic to Meghalaya, are globally threatened. There are around 136 practitioners of local herbal medicines and 15 private clinics of Indian system of medicines.
As none of these are registered under relevant acts and rules, the bio-diversity rule was adopted by the cabinet to see that the herbal practitioners are properly empowered.
Laloo said the co-ordination of those who own private forestland is needed to preserve the state’s bio-diversity.
Once the rule is adopted, the government will be able to map more medicinal plants existing in forests, including sacred groves.
The government also wants to see that there is sustainable management of medicinal plants, besides creation of plantations of medicinal plants. The government is also planning to encourage institutions like joint forest management committees involving local people, NGOs and traditional institutions to create plantations and then to set up small-scale enterprises.