Hyderabad: Peepal trees are slowly disappearing from our cities due to rapid urbanisation. A reason for it is people are not in favour of having long trees in the houses for fear of falling branches during the rainy season and long roots as they might crack walls and floors.
Due to the vanishing of trees, the price of Peepal leaves increased drastically. The leaves are bought by the people who rear goats at their houses in slums and outskirts of the city. The rearing of goats is done to supplement the income of the families by selling lambs and milk.
The people who sell the Peepal leaves are now obtaining them from far-off places like Ghatkesar, Chotuppal, Hayathnagar, Ibrahimpatnam, Adibatla and Shadnagar. “There is a huge quantity of Peepal leaves in the city. Those into goat rearing buy it daily to feed cattle,” said Shaik Chand, a Peepal leaf seller.
A fully loaded auto trolley is available for a price between Rs. 800 and Rs. 1000. “Wages are high for the people who climb the trees and cut the leaves. They take around Rs. 1,200 to Rs. 2,000 for the task, then those people loading and unloading into the auto trolley charge additional,” said Omer Khan, another leaf seller at Tallabkatta.
The Peepal leaf trees were previously found in the city particularly in Golconda, Langer Houz, Rajendranagar, Kishanbagh, Barkas, Chandrayangutta, Vattepally, Teegalkunta and Rein Bazaar as people reared goats in their houses as a part-time business and planted the trees for fodder.
“Some years ago we got a bundle for Rs. 20. Now the same quantity is sold for Rs. 40 to Rs. 50. Goats have to be fed every day otherwise how they will survive,” said Khadeer Ahmed, who has five goats.
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