Explore possibility of setting up bamboo factory at Gagret: Sukhu

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today directed officials concerned to explore the possibility of setting up a bamboo processing factory in the Gagret area of Una district to provide remunerative prices to the farmers of Una, Kangra, Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts.

Sukhu chaired the 215th Board of Directors meeting of the Himachal Pradesh State Forest Development Corporation (HPSFDC) here. He asked officials concerned to adopt modern technology in the functioning of the corporation.

He instructed the officials to equip all timber godowns of the HPSFDC with CCTV cameras to ensure better monitoring. He asked them to integrate national transit passes into the corporation to facilitate people.

The Chief Minister said that the HPSFDC had recorded Rs 289.91 crore sales of timber, rosin and turpentine oil in 2024-25, earning a net profit of Rs 14.93 crore. The sales of the HPSFDC was Rs 267 crore in 2023-24 and it earned a Rs 7.88 crore net profit during the year. Besides, it also received royalty of Rs 41.30 crore from silviculture felling.

Vice-Chairman, HPSFDC, Kehar Singh Khachi, Official and Non-official Members of the Board, Additional Chief Secretary KK Pant, Principal Secretary (Finance) Devesh Kumar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Samir Rastog and Managing Director, HPSFDC, Sanjay Sood attended the meeting.