The Maharashtra Bamboo Industry Policy 2025, which provides eco-friendly and sustainable income option to the farmers of the State, was approved in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. This will further strengthen Maharashtra’s position in bamboo production at the global and domestic levels. This policy will be in line with the National Bamboo Mission and Maharashtra Mission 2023. This policy will be implemented over the next five years. During this period and the next ten years, an investment of Rs 50,000 crore is expected in the state.

 

This will directly and indirectly generate employment for more than 5 lakh people. This policy will promote the use of bamboo in bamboo farmer producer organisations (FPOs), contract farming and energy, industry and other domestic sectors. For this, anchor units and common facility centers (CFC) will be started as infrastructure. Also, 15 bamboo clusters will be established across the state. Apart from this, Micro Common Facility Centers (MCFC) will be started for bamboo artisans in remote areas. Also, cooperation of agricultural universities will be taken for bamboo research and development. As a part of the policy, training programs will be organised for farmers to disseminate information. MoUs will be signed with international organisations whereever necessary. Interest subsidy, electricity subsidy as well as concessions in stamp duty and electricity tariff will be provided to bamboo-related processing industries.

 

Apart from this, a provision of Rs. 300 crores has also been approved as a venture capital fund for startups and micro, small and medium enterprises based on innovation in the bamboo sector. A bamboo development project is being implemented in Maharashtra with the help of the Asian Development Bank. Government has also planned to prepare preliminary report of about Rs. 4,271 crore has been submitted to the Central Government. Through this project, guidance will be provided to the Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) for the production of quality seedlings, subsidy and training. Coordination will be established between bamboo producers, industries and distributors. Also, the market will be developed by preparing a PLI scheme for bamboo-based industries and reducing the demand-supply gap. 5 to 7 percent bamboo biomass will be used in thermal power projects. New technologies and research will be promoted to develop the bamboo value chain through GIS, MIS, blockchain, drones, tissue culture labs, etc. Bamboo will be planted on open land, especially through MNREGA and public plantations.

 

A provision of Rs 1,534 crore was approved for the implementation of the Maharashtra Bamboo Policy 2025-30. A provision of Rs 11,797 crore for a period of 20 years and a fund of Rs 50 crore was approved for the implementation of the policy in this current financial year. The global bamboo market will be worth 88.43 billion US dollar by 2030. Currently, India’s bamboo exports are 2.3 percent. The bamboo industry in India is worth Rs 28,000 crore and the bamboo forest area is 4 percent. The country’s annual bamboo production capacity is 32.3 lakh tonnes. The area under bamboo cultivation in Maharashtra is the third largest in India, at 1.35 million hectares. Maharashtra’s bamboo production in 2022 was 9.47 lakh tonnes. Currently, there are bamboo clusters in Amravati, Sindhudurg and Bhandara districts in terms of production. Considering the cultivable wasteland and fallow land in Maharashtra, the bamboo production capacity can be about 157.12 lakh tonnes per year.

 

 

The Cabinet meeting on Tuesday approved the creation of 2,228 new posts for the Mumbai High Court, Nagpur and Aurangabad Benches. The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. 2,228 posts have been created in order to speed up the work by making maximum use of information technology and artificial intelligence in judicial work. Additional posts are being created in Group-A to Group-D cadre for the Mumbai branch and the Appellate branch of the Bombay High Court and the Aurangabad and Nagpur benches. Accordingly, a proposal to create posts was submitted at the government level. This proposal was approved in the cabinet meeting today. Along with the creation of these posts, the provision of salary subsidy and ancillary expenses for these posts was approved. These posts are in Group-A to Group-D cadre. Out of 2,228 posts, 1,717 posts are related to administrative work. Out of the posts approved today, 562 posts are related to the Mumbai branch of the Bombay High Court, 779 to the Appellate branch, 591 to the Aurangabad bench and 296 posts will be created for the Nagpur bench. 

 

 

“Announcing policy is okay but what about the issue of market. The Bamboo industry is facing difficulties, of which many are on the verge of closure and some have down the shutter. Government should give a deep thought to this sector. Many in the society are not aware of the sector. Secondly, we need to introduce the courses and encourage youngsters to opt for. Whom will industries employ at this juncture when no skilled job seeker is available? We need to introduce the courses, they should be given practical knowledge. Bamboo industry has vastness and every aspect should be well taken care of,” pointed out chairman of Bamboo Society of India (BSI), Maharashtra chapter Sunil Joshi. He is the founder of Institute of Village Enterprise Development for Handicrafts Artisans (VEDHA) and is promoting bamboo for past 25 years as ecofriendly resource for rural development.

 

 

“Apart from attracting investment, we will go for market creation so that investors will have growth prospects. Secondly, we are also planning to introduce academic courses on Bamboo Technology to get industries, the skilled manpower. The clusters which we are planning to develop will have vastness,” said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while talking to ‘The Hitavada’ when contacted.