Kolkata firm eyes State's bamboo, timber
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 19, 2012:
An official of a Kolkata-based paper industry has reportedly approached the State Government for bulk purchase of bamboo and timber available/growing in Manipur.
Speaking to The Sangai Express Principal Secretary (Commerce and Industries) 0 Nabakishore disclosed that one Ravi Thapa, on behalf of Lanshree Products and Services Limited today enquired about official formalities on whether the Kolkata-based firm could purchase requisite quantity of bamboos and timber from Manipur.
Ravi Thapa, a vice president or the company is said to have proposed Silchar as the site for stocking the raw material from where the load would be taken to its Kolkata factory by rail.
The company representative also enquired on the State Government's position about reviving the Manipur Paper and Pulp factory at Kadamtala, Jiribam, according to the Principal Secretary.
On Ravi's persistence about the geographical location and concentration of bamboo groves and timbers, Nabakishore said he advised the individual to consult forest department officials.
Ravi Thapa also confided to the State bureaucrat about the Kolkata firm's ambition to foray into Myanmar, specifically for raw materials of the factory, as and when the Look East Policy actually takes off.
Expressing that Manipur's rich forest resources would be attracting many more companies, Nabakishore mooted that drawing up a plan for sustainable utilisation of the State's forest products has become inevitable before the State's riches are illegally traded off or shipped away by big companies.
With regard to the defunct Kadamtala factory, he conveyed that non-payment by Silchar-based Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited for the acquisition of raw materials gradually led to the derailment of the factory.
He further informed that Ravi Thapa proposed to the Government of Manipur to look into whether the factory could be handed over to a private party or prefer revival of the same as a joint venture.