Nagpur, 17 July (HS): The Maharashtra Government has planned to ban artificial flowers to protect the interests of the horticulture farmers, said Horticulture Minister Bharat Gogawale in the Legislative Assembly.

Shiv Sena

MLA Mahesh Shinde, while raising the issue in the session, said a meeting was

earlier held with Minister Gogawale and Chief Minister Fadnavis, during which

Fadnavis had assured that the ban would be implemented.

Last week,

Shinde had highlighted in the Assembly that the increasing use of synthetic

flowers was severely affecting the livelihood of traditional flower growers.

“This move will help farmers in a big way,” he said.

Minister

Gogawale had then acknowledged that floriculturists across the state are facing

financial losses due to the influx of low-cost, mass-produced artificial

flowers. “Despite training programmes in advanced floriculture, greenhouse

technology, and post-harvest handling, our farmers are being pushed out of the

market by synthetic alternatives,” he said.

Earlier,

Gogawale informed the House that a high-level meeting with the environment

minister would be held during the ongoing session to finalise the

implementation strategy and regulatory framework for the ban.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Ajay Vasant Mardikar