'KVIC planting bamboo saplings in Leh-Ladakh'
New Delhi: The MSME ministry on Wednesday said Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched an initiative to develop green cover over barren lands in the Himalayan terrains of Leh-Ladakh by planting bamboo saplings.
In a joint exercise, KVIC and the Forest Department of Leh-Ladakh with support from ITBP planted 1,000 bamboo saplings at Village Chuchot.
Bamboo saplings have been planted under Project BOLD (Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought) of KVIC.
"This bamboo patch in Leh will create a sustainable model of development by supporting local rural and bamboo-based industries. A large quantity of agarbatti is used in monasteries which are largely brought from other states. These bamboo trees can be used for developing the local agarbatti industry in Leh," the ministry said in a statement.
It said that in Leh, a vast area of land has remained unutilised for hundreds of years and as a result, even the black soil in the region has turned into rocks at most of these places.
"While digging the pits, hard lumps were crushed and filled in the pits to provide a soft ground for bamboo roots to grow, it added.
KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the experiment of bamboo plantation in Leh was a challenging task given the difficult geographical conditions in the region. He lauded the support of local villagers in executing the
plantation drive. "In Leh, a vast area of land has remained unutilized for hundreds of years. As a result, even the black soil in the region has turned into rocks at most of these places. This made the digging of pits for bamboo plantation an extremely challenging task for KVIC. While digging the pits, these hard lumps were crushed and filled in the pits to provide a soft ground for bamboo roots to grow," he said.
Under Project BOLD, KVIC has so far planted 12,000 bamboo saplings (including 1000 in Leh) over 17.37 lakh square feet of arid land at three places - Village Nichla Mandwa in Udaipur, Village Dholera in Ahmedabad, Village Tanot in Jaisalmer districts and Village Chuchot in Leh.
