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Mohan Padmanabhan

Ministry asks for technical report by April end

Agartala March 18 If you thought border fencing can be done only through wires mounted on poles, think again! A Tripura Government enterprise has taken up on pilot basis `rubber fencing' of the large border the State shares with Bangladesh.

And, the Union Commerce Ministry sees in this a dual purpose: grow more rubber plantations along the 850-km border and provide livelihood options to many tribal farmers engaged in rubber cultivation and tapping.

Such plantations, behind the stipulated agreed upon distance at the border, can also act as a natural green bulwark to check cross-border smuggling and other criminal activities, while providing a clear view to the Border Security Force through the space between the tall rubber trees.

Ministry interested

Enthused by the idea, the Commerce Ministry has asked the Rubber Board, in a bid to give further fillip to Tripura Forest Development Plantation Corporation Ltd's (TFDPCL) current programme, to submit a technical report by April end on whether such plantations can be taken up on a much larger scale.

Addressing newspersons here on Saturday, after preliminary discussions with Dr V.K. Bahuguna, Managing Director of TFDPCL, Mr Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State for Commerce, said rubber plantation on some 15 km stretch (3,784 ha) of forest land along the Indo-Bangla border in South Tripura has already been done, and planting on another 400 ha is expected this year.

Citing "rubber as a handy tool for border management", he said the Home Ministry would be approached for additional funding for this purpose.

The plantations will be managed under joint forest management rules as laid down by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. According to the Minister, rubber and bamboo are the two vital resources for development of this land-locked Northeastern State.

More details

Mr Bahuguna making a detailed presentation on the corporation's activities, said TFDPCL is one of the single largest rubber plantation units in the country, having so far raised 11,000 hectares of rubber plantations on degraded forestlands.

Highlighting the corporation's role in the Tripura Rubber Mission, he said TFDPCL provides technical, human resources and administrative back-up for bringing around 85,000 ha of land found suitable by the Rubber Board and National Bureau of Soil Survey, and Land Use Planning under rubber in the next 20 years.

The Union Minister said the actual per km plantation costs are being worked out and as per back of the envelope calculations, a 15-km stretch could cost around Rs 2.4 crore (roughly Rs 20 lakh for one km). The cost, according to Dr James Jacob, Director of Rubber Research Institute under the Rubber Board, would vary depending on the width of the plantation.

More Stories on : Rubber | Security | Other States

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