NASHIK: Nashik East Forest Department with the financial assistance of Maharashtra State Bamboo Development Board had set up a Bamboo Shared Facilitation Center at Mauje Devgaon in Umbarthan, Surgana Forest Reserve. The forest department has decided to privatize the center as the sale of manufactured goods is limited.
Self-help groups, joint forest management committees, private entrepreneurs will be given to run bamboo sharing facilities. In the border areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat, nature has spread freely. The traditional handicrafts that the locals are aware of should be combined with modernity. The Bamboo Shared Facilitation Center has been set up with the objective of preserving the artefacts and developing the locals. The center has been provided with the tools required to make various decorative and handicraft items from bamboo.
Local artisans will be trained by a team of expert trainers to make the items. Through this center, good financial income opportunities are given to the artisans by making good quality ornaments and handicrafts. However, the corona has put some limits on the Centre’s ability to receive orders over the past few months.
Against that background, efforts will be made to provide employment to the locals by running these centers through external sources. Meanwhile, the tendered organization will have to train the locals to create employment in the bamboo sector, provide training and guidance to increase the area under bamboo cultivation as well as boost the bamboo based industry.
The responsibility of tender process is on Assistant Forest Conservator and Wildlife Conservation HY Shewale and Coordinator of Bamboo Development Board BP Pawar.
“As per the government decision, the bamboo shared facility center will be run by a third party. As per the agreement, the responsibility will be fixed on the concerned organization. Locals will be given priority when determining the organization.” -Hemant Shewale, Assistant Forest Ranger
