Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel met a delegation of Assam’s industrialists in Jorhat today on the second day of his two-day visit to Assam. He explained in detail the characteristics of Chhattisgarh along with tea cultivation, bamboo and small forest produce based industries in the state. During the discussion, he invited these industrialists to set up tea and bamboo industries in Chhattisgarh.
Representatives from various industries were present on this occasion along with tea producers. A delegation of industrialists from Assam also presented special hand-crafted tea to the Chief Minister.
Chief Minister Baghel told the industrialists of Assam that there is an industry friendly environment in Chhattisgarh. He said that in order to give new facilities to the industries in the state, a new industrial policy has been prepared after holding discussions with industrialists.
Chief Minister Baghel said that Chhattisgarh has good prospects for horticultural crops as well as minor forest produce. He invited the industrialists of Assam to establish tea and bamboo based industries and said that they would be given all possible help and encouragement.
On this occasion, President of Assam Chamber of Commerce Jorhat, Prashant Kumar Saikia, Secretary Assam Chamber of Commerce Pabitra Borthakur, President North East Small Scale Industries Association Amrik Singh, President of Jorhat, Director Aideobarie Tea Estates Private Limited Raj Barooah, Akshay Dutta, Representative from beverage industy, Representative from tea industry Nitesh Jain, Representative from Food Processing sector Dilip Agarwal and many industrialists were present.
Chief Minister said that Chhattisgarh’s 44 percent area is forest. A large quantity of minor forest produce is produced in the state . At present, 52 minor products have been brought under support price. In order to increase the income of forest dwellers in the state and to provide them continuous employment, processing and value addition of minor forest produce is being promoted.
He said that Chhattisgarh is famous all over the country for paddy production. Sugarcane crop is also being grown on a large scale here. He also gave detailed information about ethanol production from paddy and sugarcane. Now fruits and horticultural crops are also grown on a large scale in the state. Processing industries related to these have immense possibilities here. The weather of Jashpur district is favorable for tea cultivation, tea plantation is being promoted there. He informed the industrialists of Assam about the possibilities of tea industry and invited them to invest in these areas.
Giving detailed information about the possibilities of setting up industries in horticulture and agriculture sector, Chief Minister said that tomato is widely grown in many regions of Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh’s tomato is exported to Pakistan. Bamboo is also being produced on a large scale in forest areas of Chhattisgarh. The forest dwellers are being given employment through all these.
In the field of bamboo crafts too, the industrialists can set up industries in Chhattisgarh by adding value to these products. He said that various artistic objects are also being prepared in Chhattisgarh.
Bastar Art is popular here and also abroad. Various crafts of the state are being encouraged. These craftsmen are also being encouraged for value-addition of their products in accordance with contemporary times and efforts are being made to link their products with markets.
