A centre for taking India’s bamboo mission forward has failed to shift from New Delhi to its ‘headquarters’ in Meghalaya capital Shillong to cater to the largest bamboo-growing region in the country.
The Central government had in 2013 approved the creation of an autonomous society registered and headquartered in Shillong with a fund allocation of ₹292 crore. The society was called North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach.
Though NECTAR acquired two spaces in Shillong – one a seven-room guesthouse and the other a small office near the landmark Bethany Hospital – it has continued to function from the office of the Department of Science and Technology.
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In May, NECTAR’s Director General Baldev Singh Rawat had said the Shillong unit of Central Public Works Department was expected to ready the society’s office in the space provided by the Survey of India within three months.
“We have not been able to stick to that time frame because the CPWD has not started work. We will shift to Shillong as soon as everything is ready,” Mr. Rawat told The Hindu on Monday.
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The Bamboo Industries Association of India said this could be an excuse for NECTAR officials to remain rooted to New Delhi, having already completed six years there without serving the purpose – to facilitate bamboo growers and entrepreneurs.
“Operating a guesthouse with seven big rooms is not very important. It can easily be converted to an office if there is intent. Without coming close to the resources and people it was created for, NECTAR seems to be going the way of its predecessor, the NBMA (National Mission on Bamboo Application),” Rajib Goswami, BIAI’s president, said.
The DST had in 2004 launched the NBMA with an outlay of ₹200 crore.
In almost a decade since, the NMBA spent ₹100 crore on building demo bamboo houses that hardly impacted lives across India’s bamboo belts, particularly the Northeast that grows 67% of India’s bamboos.
Bamboo entrepreneurs said the NBMA, contrary to its name, neither developed any technology nor facilitated technology transfer for 385 units it assisted.