Local Name: Shakhua Patta

Collection Period: Throughout the year Sal leaf is plucked from the tree and made into bundles.

Processing

The processing of cups and plates at primary collector level includes stitching and bundling the leaves with bamboo thin sticks. This is used both at domestic and industrial levels. At domestic level the plates made out of green leaves are consumed whereas in case of industrial usage these very plates are dried and sold to the industry / plate making units for whom these dried plates act as raw material. One average sized plate is made up of five to six sal leaves and 24 plates join together to make one bundle. Similarly an average sized cup is made up of 4 - 5 sal leaves. The processing at the industrial level includes two types / qualities of plates namely double leaf plates wherein two sal leaves are stitched together to make a single leaf, this is known as pairing of leaves, and 6 - 7 such single leaves are used to make one plate. The second quality of plate is the normal plate. Both these plates are put inside a machine to get the final product.

Traders

• Ramadhar Saw, Main Bazaar, Daltonganj.
• Ramchander Saw, Near old Petrol Pump, Chatra.
• Sanjay Kumar, Yadav Babu Chowk, Hazaribagh.
• Sandeep Agarwal, Upper Bazaar, Ranchi.
• Gulab Chand Jain, Main Road, Hazaribagh.
• Prem Store, Jhanda Chowk, Hazaribagh.