The Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated the Cane and Bamboo Technology Park-cum-Office Premises of Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) at Burnihat, Assam today.Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Singh said that there are many unexplored potentials in North East and one of them is bamboo, as more than 50% of India’s bamboos are found in this region. The Minister further said though the biggest storehouse of bamboo in India is North East, the market of bamboo is extended all over India. Now it is up to us how we utilize it, what we produce, how much and how far can we reach, where we can capture market and how it can also become the source of livelihood for the youth, he added. Dr. Singh urged the youth of the region to utilize the home grown bamboo to produce different commodities which will help them to earn their livelihood sitting at home. And for this purpose, with the help of the North Eastern Council (NEC) and other organizations, Ministry of DoNER would be always there to help them to facilitate their marketing beyond North East, the Minister further added.Talking about the importance of creating awareness about the benefits of bamboo industry, Dr. Singh said that there is no dearth of takers or buyers for our products; the only problem is that they do not know what we are producing. What is important is creating awareness, for which simultaneously the Ministry has started a campaign across the country, he said.Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary of North Eastern Council and Chairman, CBTC, Shri Ram Muivah said that the Cane and Bamboo Technology Park was a long awaited dream and today it got materialized.
From last year Bamboo is one of the focused areas of NEC and it has lots of plans for up-gradation and strengthening of the CBTC, he added.Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh also visited the Cane and Bamboo Technology workshop and the product stalls within the compound of Cane and Bamboo Technology Park during the event.The Bamboo Technology Park has been developed to exclusively deal with Bamboo & Cane, catering to the needs of the industries, entrepreneurs, designers, crafts persons, rural people, teachers, policy makers, technicians and technologists. The Centre will be identifying and transferring appropriate manufacturing techniques, providing technical assistance, rendering specific services such as, laboratory testing and quality assurance. This will itself promote the tangible benefits and will focus for generating village-level cluster and micro-processing units, encouraging and mobilizing SHGs, NGOs to adopt to bamboo culture, attract investment in the bamboo sector in both medium and small sector, create awareness generation, design innovation, new product development, technology infusion and adaptation to the requirement of this country. The Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) was established in Guwahati as a centre for “Cane and Bamboo Technological Up gradation and Networking Project” implemented by NEDFi under the UNIDO country program for India. The Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) were the main stake holders. After completion of the Project, it was registered as a Society under North Eastern Council, Ministry of DoNER, Government of India. The CBTC has trained more than 5400 artisans, students, farmers and entrepreneurs of North Eastern Region as well as foreign countries in the field of Cane and Bamboo Technology.