Baans Shilpi Panchayat will be held today to solve problems faced by bamboo artisans, especially those belonging to Baiga tribe and bamboo-based occupation will be promoted. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will preside over the Panchayat at Chief Minister’s residence from 10 am.
About 3000 bamboo artisans will participate in Baans Shilpi Panchayat. It is 33rd Panchayat in the series of panchayats held by Chief Minister.
As many as 500 bamboo artisans from Hoshangabad district, 300 from Bhopal, 200 from Harda, 100 each from Raisen, Betul, Balaghat, Chhindwara and Jabalpur districts, 50 each from Sehore, Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Mandla, Katni, Dindori, Indore, Dhar, Jhabua, Alirajpur, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Khargone, Barwani, Rewa, Sidhi, Satna, Sagar, Damoh, Seoni, Narsinghpur, Shahdol, Umaria, Anuppur, Guna, Datia, Dewas and Ujjain, 30 from Vidisha and 20 bamboo artisans from Rajgarh district will participate in the Panchayat.
It is noteworthy that every year 25,000 MT commercial bamboo and 50,000 MT industrial bamboo (small pieces of dry bamboo) are grown in government forests spread over 30.72 percent area of the State. Of this, 80 percent bamboo is produced in Balaghat district alone.
Except natural growth of bamboo in Government forests in Gwalior and Ujjain divisions, degraded bamboo forests are found in remaining divisions. Besides, farmers are also producing bamboo in Rewa, Bhopal and Shahdol divisions in private sector.
About 90 percent industrial bamboo is sold to paper mills for preparing pulp while remaining 10 percent is used by owners of paan barejas (betel leaf enclosures) and producers of tomato, grapes and incense sticks. Out of about 1 crore 50 lakh bamboos, 30 lakh is provided to villagers for Nistar and 25 lakh bamboos to bamboo-dependent social groups.
Presently, use of bamboo products in home decoration, floor tiles, interior decoration of train coaches and ships is gaining popularity at national and international levels. Bamboo products give lucrative profit to producers since they are fancy items.