SHILLONG, Nov 12 ? The North Eastern Council (NEC) has sanctioned Rs 375 lakh to the north eastern States for the development of bamboo sector which has been identified as a key area of development in the region. A spokesman of the Council said today that the sanctions have been made during October to Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur under the scheme for ?Development of bamboo related activity.?
A sanction of Rs 50 lakh have been made to Assam Government for implementation of the scheme under which bamboo plantations would be raised. The scheme would also cover other activities like research and development on bamboo-based products, bamboo industries, setting up common facility centres and for organizing seminars and workshops.
Identical sanctions have also been made to the Governments of Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland. In the case of Arunachal Pradesh, the sanction was for an amount of Rs 45 lakh besides a loan component of Rs 5 lakh. Mizoram received a sanction of Rs 30 lakh under the same scheme. NEC further accorded administrative approval of Rs 50 lakh and sanction for payment of Rs 37 lakh to Kosons Forest Products Private Limited of Guwahati for setting up a bamboo flooring and panels manufacturing unit at Export Promotion Industrial Park(EPIP) in Amingaon.
Administrative approval of nearly Rs 270 lakh has also been accorded for the North East Bamboo Mission. A sanction of Rs 50 lakh has been made as the first instalment to the Project Coordinator, Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre(CBTC), Guwahati, for implementation of the Mission.
NEC has sanctioned an ?on account? payment of grant of Rs.180 lakhs and a loan of Rs. 20 lakhs to the Government of Assam for implementation of the NEC schemes during the third quarter of 2004-05. Arunachal has been endowed with a similar grant and loan during the fiscal 2004-05.
Administrative approval has been given for a Rs 49 lakh scheme to set up a dairy industry for production of processed and packed milk, milk-based products, paneer, ghee, etc by M/s G R Dairy & Food Products, Guwahati. NEC also sanctioned payment of Rs 25 lakh in favour of National Small Industries Corporation(NSIC) as the first instalment for the scheme.
The NEC also gave the nod to a Rs 51 lakh scheme for imparting training to 300 unemployed graduates of three States viz., Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura to undergo employment oriented training programme to be organized by NIIT, Kolkata. The first instalment of Rs 39 lakh has already been cleared to be paid to NIIT.