Nitin Gadkari suggests way to reduce logistics cost for bamboo goods; asks for formulating Bamboo Policy

Logistics for MSMEs: MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday suggested businesses to adopt cost-effective methods and modes such as waterways to bring down the logistics cost for bamboo products originating from India’s Northeast. Inaugurating a virtual bamboo exhibition, Gadkari also stressed on the need for more intensive use of bamboo resources in India that are already used in multiple fields such as handicrafts, agarbatti making, garments, buildings and interiors, bio-fuel resource, etc. For the same, he also asked the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) to come up with a Bamboo Policy since maximum bamboo production happens in the Northeast.

Further, in order to boost employment in bamboo-related activities, Gadkari called for producing high yielding bamboo varieties, for instance, 200 tonnes per acre yield instead of around 40 tonnes per acre in case of few varieties for industrial use. The greater yield and wider bamboo usage will open up more employment generation especially in Northeast India, said a statement by the MSME Ministry citing Gadkari as saying. The minister further stressed that bamboo sticks may be reduced to bamboo bales for moisture to be removed in order to ease transportation and make it cheaper. He suggested seeking the support of IITs for its pilot project.

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The DoNER Ministry had planned the development of three bamboo clusters in Jammu, Katra, and Samba areas to produce bamboo basketry, agarbatti, and bamboo charcoal apart from setting up bamboo technology centre. DonER minister Jitendra Singh said that it is imperative to make bamboo a pan India perspective for its growth and utilization adding that his ministry is already exploring bamboo reserves in different parts of the country. The ministry has sanctioned 17 projects for development of bamboo in Northeast states in the past four years that includes a Bamboo Industrial Park in Assam.

Around 40 per cent area under bamboo exists in Northeastern states, said Singh even as the potential in the Region was not being fully utilized because of restrictions in movement of Bamboo under Indian Forest Act, 1927. However, the Modi government “has amended the century-old Indian Forest Act by taking homegrown bamboo out of the purview of the Forest Act, in order to enhance livelihood opportunities through bamboo,” the statement added citing Singh.