Bamboo park in Tripura to boost industries, 'Bashgram' to push eco-tourism

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• Jan 2, 2022 | Deleted

Digital Desk: Tripura is home to India's first bamboo park and the country's first multi-purpose 'Bashgram (bamboo town),' which was built to promote eco-tourism and attract visitors, yoga enthusiasts, and the environment lovers.

'Bashgram' was developed on nine acres of barren land by some youths led by bamboo architect cum expert Manna Roy in western Tripura's Katlamara, just along the India-Bangladesh border. It has already attracted thousands of tourists, including foreigners and environmentalists, from across the country.

In the lush green 'Bashgram,' which has been gradually developed since 2017, there are a well-equipped yoga center, class ten standard school with hostel facilities, playground, several ponds with sufficient flora and fauna, bamboo made cottages, bamboo pathways and bridges, and various eco-friendly utilities and facilities. 

With over 14 varieties of bamboo and a plethora of other natural plants, flora, herbs, shrubs, and flowers, ' Bashgram' is genuinely a natural domicile.\

Roy said that a museum would soon be set up in 'Bashgram' (45 km north of Agartala), and all types of endangered, obsolete, old and new materials made of bamboo would be displayed in the museum.

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"In our society, bamboo knives were earlier used to cut the umbilical cord after a baby was born, and bamboo was also used during the last rites after a man or woman died. Bamboo is used in numerous ways in every aspect of human life.

"A variety of foods made of bamboo resources are also very delicious and popular in the societies of the northeastern states. Hence, bamboo is an integral part of our life and death," Roy told IANS.

He explained that the basic idea behind inventing 'Bashgram' is to correctly and effectively utilise local and rural resources with value addition while avoiding environmental harm.

Officials of Tripura Industrial Development Corporation (TIDC) said that "many entrepreneurs established factories out of which one big industry has been set up for producing bamboo flooring tiles (Bamboowood), bamboo laminated board, furniture made of laminated bamboo and round bamboo, partition wall, home design materials which is very attractive."

Thousands of eco-friendly bamboo items have traditionally been made in Tripura and other northeastern states.

Officials claimed that Tripura artists made bamboo sticks by hand in the past but that the government assisted them in obtaining a user-friendly machine to make the sticks a few years ago.

Currently, the northeastern state produces 2,500 metric tonnes of bamboo sticks. Still, that number is expected to rise to 12,000 metric tonnes in the next several years as 14 new bamboo stick manufacturing units with sophisticated technology open around the state.