Centre sanctions Rs 17.82 cr to tackle gregarious flowering

Shillong, Sept 26 (UNI) The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has released the first installment of Rs.17.82 crore to North Eastern States to tackle the situation of gregarious flowering in Muli Bamboo.

The Ministry has approved Rs 85 crores to implement various schemes for implementation of Action Plan. Special exemptions have also been declared. The state of Mizoram will get highest amount of Rs 23 crores, which will be followed by Tripura with Rs 21 crores.

Assam will get Rs 13 crores, Manipur Rs 9.9 crores, Nagaland Rs 8 crores, Meghalaya Rs 6.8 crores and Arunachal Pradesh will get Rs 1.5 crore.

For management of situations that will be created by gregarious flowering of bamboos, an action plan of Rs 366 crore has been prepared. This plan was approved by the steering committee set up by the Ministry of Environment&Forests with representatives from these states and concerned Ministries, other Departments and Agencies.

Under the Action Plan, various activities have been suggested.

State Forest Department will identify Muli- Bamboo areas and other bamboo areas, which are expected to flower.

Harvesting of bamboo areas and their marketing also will be taken up. Besides this the State Forest Department will also explore other possibilities of utilization of muli-bamboos.

They will prepare re-generation plan, natural and artificial with mix of bamboo species. The department will have to ensure that this kind of plantation become successful. Other Ministries and Department, who are involved in controlling the situation, are State Agriculture Departments, Medical&Health Department, State and District Level Committees, NGOs and Panchayati Raj Institutions.

The Agriculture Department will plan for control of Pests (rats) and then prepare the plan to control fires. The Medical&Health Department of each state will plan for health and epidemic problems.

NGO and Panchyati Raj Institutions will create awareness and implementation. Public Work Department of each state will prepare plan for improvement of road transport work as indicated by Forest Department.

The Central Monitoring Committee (CMC) constituted in Ministry of Environment &Forests is monitoring the progress of actions taken on implementation of Action Plan.

Mizoram has largest area under Muli- bamboo and it is expected to get maximum attention. More than 8 km of road networks has been establish in the state. More than 51 lakhs bamboo seedling has been raised for planting in 8500 hectares.

UNI RRK TJP DB1923