Agartala: Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb inaugurated a workshop on government e-marketplace (GeM) for bamboo-based items under the National Bamboo Mission, at Bhagat Singh Youth Hostel in Agartala on Monday.

Addressing the session, Deb said that the state government is taking steps to boost the bamboo industry and create a market for bamboo-made handicraft products of Tripura. He also added that he would take up the matter with Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis to help in exporting Ganesh idols made from bamboo roots in the state.

In Tripura, despite highly-trained skilled artisans who produce international quality bamboo products, they are unable to make profits because of the lack of proper marketing.

“I have noticed that Ganesha idols made from bamboo roots from our state have high demand and can develop the market of our state in Maharashtra. I shall take up the matter with the chief minister of Maharashtra for help in marketinging the product in the state. We are also trying to develop the skills of the artisans of the state,” Deb said at the workshop.

The CM also urged the bamboo and cane handicraft artisans, bamboo producers, and entrepreneurs to register their names under GeM to get a better market.

“For developing the business of bamboo, GeM would help you. By registering yourself with GeM you would sell your products with government organisations with a good value. Not only in our country, you can sell your products in international markets, too, through GeM,” Deb said.

To help develop handicraft in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017 removed the tag of a ‘tree’ from Bamboo and considered it as a grass for helping poor bamboo cultivators of the country.

“Bamboo is now known as grass and now people can cut it and plant it and make products from it. Up to 66% of bamboo products in the country are produced in the Northeast. Tripura, despite being a prominent producer of bamboo products, the industry could not take off due to lack of proper and skilled training of the bamboo growers and artisans,” he said.

He also said the state government has decided to undertake massive bamboo cultivation covering 15,000 hectares in the state.

Bamboo is one of the major and important natural resources of Tripura. The state sustains tropical moist deciduous forests with patches of forests of evergreen species and a substantial area under bamboo. The climate ranges from moist to humid and the annual rainfall varies between 2,250 and 2,500 mm. At least 21 species of bamboo are commonly found in Tripura. The extent of the bamboo-bearing area in the forests of the state is 3,246 sq m.

State ‘Bamboo Mission’ project manager Aswini Rupini said that they have signed an MoU with the National Centre for Design and Product development on June 2 for new designs of the products.

Meanwhile, the CM also launched a new admission web portal for Industrial Training Institute (ITI) on Monday.

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