GUWAHATI: Union minister of state (independent charge), Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Jitendra Singh said the Northeast, supported by the Centre, would focus on the bamboo industry in a big way as the sector has not received the deserved attention despite the region producing 60 per cent of India’s bamboo.
Addressing the second meeting of NITI Aayog Forum for Northeast here on Tuesday, Singh said that under the directions of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, home grown bamboo has been exempted from the Forest Act.
The minister disclosed that the Modi government has set up a new National Bamboo Mission (NBM) to focus on the sector.
“The North Eastern Council Cane & Bamboo Development Council (NECBDC) will act as a coordinating and facilitating agency for the North Eastern region,” he added.
Out of a total outlay of Rs 1,290 crore till March 2020, Singh said, “Rs150 crore to Rs 200 crore has been allocated for the North Eastern Region for the year 2018-19.
He said that the priority should be the marketing of high value products like bamboo shoots, candy, bamboo charcoal fibre in fashion industry, etc. In addition, big industries dealing in fibre, construction material, bamboo engineered wood, are the potential areas which can be envisaged for further expansion, he said.
Under the four and a half years rule of the Modi government, Singh said, there has been a visible and consistent effort to develop the North Eastern region and bring it on a par with the other regions of the country.
Singh also referred to the growth achieved in the tourism sector and said that in the last two years, some of the destinations such as Gangtok and Shillong received such a heavy tourist rush that there was no accommodation available.
He said, the most significant marker of this change is the fact that now even the private tour operators from South Indian cities like Bengaluru are planning exclusive tourist itineraries for Northeast.
Singh also touched upon the prioritisation of the tea sector, considering the fact that more than 850 tea estates and 2500 tea gardens are located in Assam alone. He also referred to plans and efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in fish production considering that 95 per cent of the region’s population consumes fish.
Action plan for NE
The NITI Forum for North East announced that an implementable action plan would be developed for the region.
NITI Forum chairman, Rajiv Kumar, while addressing the meeting of the forum here said that an implementable action plan, which is practical, tangible and doable, will be developed for the Northeast.
“The forum would work for accelerating the pace of socio-economical growth of the region. It would focus on action based approach and would work towards substantial results in a time-bound manner,” Kumar said.
He announced that the forum, which was formed in April this year, would henceforth hold three meetings every year.
Kumar further said that NITI Forum, North East Water Management Authority and North Eastern Council (NEC) would coordinate for important development projects on the ground for the region.
During the meeting, Kumar asked the NEC secretary, Ram Muivah to present five important recommendations of the expert panels on bamboo, tea, tourism, fisheries and dairy.
With the objective of having more focused discussions, the NITI-NER Forum identified five key sectors of tourism, bamboo, dairy, fisheries and tea for the meeting.