How much progress has the CBTC made in making model bamboo houses?

Reba Phukan,

Dispur

Starting with the model bamboo house in Aizawl, the CBTC has come a long way. Introduction of Latin-American technology and the Bahareque model have added credibility in the field of bamboo housing.

At the moment, the CBTC is engaged in making six such houses. The models are created in collaboration with TIFAC and the National Mission on Bamboo Applications.

One such structure is now the office of the senior block development officer at Dimoria in Sonapur. The other five structures are at an advanced stage of construction in various locations in Guwahati.

Is the CBTC taking up awareness programmes for making bamboo a housing material?

Meera Sharma,

Lachit Nagar

The CBTC has embarked upon an ambitious programme of collaborating with the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council for promoting bamboo as material for making strong, resilient, durable, affordable and earthquake proof houses.

The CBTC has given more importance to bamboo rather than cane. Is there not enough cane to take up any project?

Partha Dutta,

Maligaon

To us, at the CBTC, there is no such distinction. We are trying to give equal attention to both of these remarkable plants.

But cane is available in only a few select areas, while bamboo has a more homogeneous distribution and is spread across 8.96 million hectares all over the country.

The CBTC has taken up programmes to increase cane plantation in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya in collaboration with the forest departments of the two states.

To create awareness about the existing cane processing and manufacturing technology in Malaysia and to participate in the Malaysia International Furniture Fair, the CBTC organised an exposure-cum-study trip in 2002 for officials from forest departments, RFRI, Jorhat, NEHHDC, Nagaland Handloom and Handicraft Development Corporation, development commissioner handicrafts, department of science and technology and two successful entrepreneurs from Assam.

However, we are still in the process of setting up cane processing units in the region.

Is there any plan to work with Assam forest department?

Rina Devi, Maya Sharma, Nausheen Ahmed and Jaya Rabha,

Panjabari

Absolutely. The CBTC is in constant touch with the officials of the Assam forest department.

In fact, the Assam government has appointed a nodal officer for effectively linking the institutions dealing with bamboo.

What decision was taken by the Union department for development of northeastern region (Doner) for utilisation of bamboo at the 48th North Eastern Council (NEC) meeting in Gangtok?

Raktim Gogoi,

Silpukhuri

Doner has asked the NEC to draw up a strategy and action plan for utilisation of bamboo resources in the region.

A task force would be constituted with NEC secretary as chairman.

The panel will comprise members of Doner, the Planning Commission, state governments and various central departments.

A senior official from the CBTC will be the member-secretary.

The plan should focus on the problem of bamboo flowering, product identification, establishment of processing zones, and marketing and institutional support.

What about collaboration with China on harnessing bamboo resources?

Prabal Saikia,

Zoo-Narengi Road

China has acknowledged the superior quality of the bamboo found in the Northeast. It has given the green signal for using bamboo indigenous to this region in industrial applications.

This has been possible after CBTC sent five varieties of bamboos found in the Northeast to China for testing their properties.

The results will pave the way for industrialising the bamboo sector in a big way.

The tests were conducted at the Chinese Bamboo Engineering Research Centre, Nanjing, and Fustar at Xingchang.

The preliminary tests conducted by the two institutes have found that the Indian bamboos are superior.