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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Cachar Paper Mill suffering due to want of bamboo

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: In reply to a question by Silchar MP Kabindra Purkayastha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “The Centre admits that Cachar Paper Mill is suffering operational capacity due to want of bamboos.” He said the productivity of the paper mill was 65 per cent in 2008-09 and is currently producing 50 per cent material due to shortage in bamboo supply.

The minister further said that non availability of bamboo pulp in Barak Valley was because of gregarious flowering of Muli bamboo in NC Hills. Moreover, nearly 70-80 per cent bamboo available in adjacent Mizoram is also Muli bamboo which is also affected with flowering.

Scindia informed the House that other reasons adding to the bamboo crisis were the insurgency problem, poor railway structure, frequent landslides and floods. He later assured the House that even though the paper mill was looming under huge crisis, the mill authorities have taken several steps like procuring home grown bamboo and pulp wood, using recycled fibre, purchasing indigenous pulp from Andhra Pradesh and supply of bamboo from Lower Assam through river route across Bangladesh to improve the situation of the paper mill. THE SENTINEL

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