J&K Govt to set up 3 bamboo clusters

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 9

Union Minister Jitendra Singh today said the government had been working on a plan to create direct employment opportunities for about 25,000 persons in J&K by rolling out a scheme for setting up bamboo clusters across the country, which would also be implemented in the newly carved out union territory.

The minister said three bamboo clusters would be developed in Jammu, Katra and Samba for making bamboo basketry, incense sticks and bamboo charcoal, which would provide direct employment opportunities to about 25,000 persons and an MoU in this regard was at the final stage.

Singh, the Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), said soon a team of the ministry officials would visit Jammu and explore a field training programme for bamboo farming in the region.

The minister said the experience of north-eastern states would help implement such a scheme in J&K and would strengthen the economic conditions of artisans and also assist in the commercial exploitation of bamboo grown in this region.