Chief Minister Kamal Nath has said that a time-bound action plan should be prepared for bamboo production in degraded forest areas, barren land and fields of farmers to provide employment through promoting bamboo industry. The Chief Minister gave these instructions in a meeting of Bamboo Mission at the Mantralaya. Forest Minister Umang Singhar was present in the meeting.
The Chief Minister said that bamboo production should be encouraged in degraded forest areas and on revenue fallow lands.
He said that the Forest Department should plan the proposed work area for bamboo production with the participation of farmers in the private sector and the time frame for its implementation should be fixed.
Nath said that there is a huge employment potential in the bamboo industry.
This can provide employment to a large number of people in rural and tribal areas. Kamal Nath said that farmers should also be motivated to produce bamboo in their fields and for that they should be given all possible help. He asked to create a synergy between the departments concerned to overcome the difficulties of bamboo industries.
Representatives of industries associated with bamboo industry told in the meeting that while on the one hand, bamboo production will give a boost to bamboo based industries, on the other hand employment opportunities will also increase on a large scale. The pressure on natural forests will be reduced which will help in reducing the pace of climate change.
There is a possibility of setting up industries in the state to use bamboo in making incense sticks, charcoal, particle board and using bamboo as an alternative to coal.
Additional Chief Secretary Forest AP Shrivastava, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief of Forest Force, U Prakasham, Chief Executive Officer, Madhya Pradesh Bamboo Mission, Abhay Kumar Patil and Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Sanjay Kumar Shukla, Mahendra Singh of Dalmia Bharat Group associated with bamboo industry, Devopam Mukherjee of Artisan Agrotech, Subhash Bhatia and Ashwini Pahuja were present.
