A bamboo partition

Agartala, July 10: Since time immemorial, bamboos of all varieties have been a part of the life and society of Tripura’s tribals. The bamboo shoot is an inalienable item of food known as godhak — a spice-free preparation of mixed vegetables with dried fish.

In socio-religious functions of tribal society, consecrated bamboos play an important part. With rapid denudation of Tripura’s once-rich forest cover exacerbated by smuggling the cultivation and growth of bamboo have gone down.

Nevertheless there is good news for artisans who make furniture and other items for room decoration out of bamboo and cane. The first consignment of furniture and items for room decoration made by local artisans worth $ 5,499 is being exported to the Netherlands. The Bamboo and Cane Development Institute (BCDI) and National Institute of Design have been working together with the artisans of Tripura for exporting the items.

The kanakaich variety of bamboo, available only in Tripura, used to be the raw material for making clubs and sticks for policemen, as well as javelins, fishing rods and flexible pole vault sticks. It also used to be exported. But sources in the bamboo and cane development institute of the state government said during the past few years thekanakaich variety was being used after treatment for making room furniture like sleeping cots, chairs, sofa set, dining table and other items of room decoration.

“The items made of processed kanakaich are very durable and artistic,” says Rakesh Debnath , instructor in the government-run Bamboo and Cane Development Institute. He says the normal kanakaich bamboo collected from forests have to be processed with application of special pesticide to prevent erosion.

Furniture and items of room decoration made out of kanakaich bamboo were displayed at the international trade fair in Delhi from February 27 to March 2 this year. Several foreign firms and trading agencies evinced a keen interest in these.

The consignment that is being exported to the Netherlands is only the first of a number of export orders from several countries, according to Debnath. Experts of BCDI were training local artisans in making furniture and items of room decoration of high quality at Agartala and Katlamara area in Sadar (North).