Forest development coupled with Ecological improvement with a humanitarian approach is a passion for Dr.Bahuguna who, as an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer of the 1979 batch belongs to the Tripura cadre.

In an interview to <www.tripurainfo.com.com>Dr.Bahuguna said that Forests are for the People and we will like to empower people to manage their resources. His message to the people who are residing in the forest is CARE and SHARE the forest and that we should hand over the resources to the next generation in a much better condition because forests are the life sustaining resource base and vital for sustaining human life on this planet.

He is also looking after Tripura’s lone profit making Forest Development & Plantation Corporation (TFDPC) Ltd.

Answering a question on how the TFDPC Ltd. which was a sick government undertaking, was turned into a profit making concern he said, ‘I have previous experience of converting losing concerns into profit-making ones but that depends to a great extent on how well you can manage your manpower. My cardinal principle and point of topmost priority is the best possible man-management so that they give off their best. These are possible only if you can sufficiently motivate your men and inspire respect in their minds about your own abilities and ideals. What I have done in TFDPC can be replicated in other losing concerns also provided your man management is efficient and you have adequate operational freedom and also ideas.  I must say from my experience in Tripura and interaction with my officers, employees and a cross-section of people that the degree of corruption in Tripura is much less than what it is in many other states and, moreover, people here can be convinced and brought around by solid reasoning and rational persuasion.

"We are diversifying into value addition of the Rubber Wood by establishing Tripura Rubber Wood Factory at the TFDPC Industrial Estate, Agartala, for production of export quality eco-friendly solid Rubber wood board." A superior world class knocked down furniture made from treated Rubber wood has also been set up for 300 carpenters. For this, a subsidiary unit named as "Unakoti Crafts and Furniture" has been set up with latest state-of-art machineries imported from Germany, Taiwan and China.

Dr.Bahuguna who has vast experience & is also Winner of the prestigious Queen's Award for the outstanding forester of the Commonwealth for the year 2000 awarded by the Commonwealth Forestry Association for his outstanding contribution made in the field of forestry in India during two decades of career and also for the all round performance as a practicing resource manager, administrator, teacher, researcher and policy formulator. The work done to promote forestry, specially participatory forest management, was recognised. Here goes his interview:

Question: Can you tell us about your diversification/expansion, plans?

Answer: We are the single largest Rubber Plantation unit in the country and through our efforts Tripura is now second after Kerala in Rubber area wise. We are expanding the base of our Rubber resources by planting 3874 ha of forest land along the international border with Bangladesh. In the last three years we have raised 1750 ha of plantation.

We are diversifying into value addition of the Rubber Wood by establishing Tripura Rubber Wood Factory at the TFDPC Industrial Estate, Agartala, for production of export quality eco-friendly solid Rubber wood board. The factory was commission by the Hon’ble Chief Minister Shri Manik Sarkar on 20^th November 2007. An agreement has been signed with the Godfrey Ltd of Singapore to export the 50% boards to Europe and USA.

A superior world class knocked down furniture made from treated Rubber wood has also been set up for 300 carpenters. For this, a subsidiary unit named as "Unakoti Crafts and Furniture" has been set up with latest state of art machineries imported from Germany, Taiwan and China. This was inaugurated by Hon’ble Forest minister Shri Jitendra  Chaudhuryon 20^th November 2007.  We are further venturing into establishing a Door manufacturing factory for value addition of the Teak and other valuable timber of the State. The corporation has signed an agreement with the State Forest Department to take all its seize timber for value addition for which a separate division is being created.

The Corporation is to set up a Cycle tyre and Tube factory at Agartala to meet the demands of these items in the North-East on competitive prices. We are setting up the first Technically Specified Rubber (TSR) Factory outside South India at Takmachera South Tripura and would like to replace the processing of latex to TSR to conserve the forests as TSR does not require firewood and smoking. All this diversification would provide jobs to more than 3500 technical and non-technical educated youth of State.

Recently, an International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) funded project has been launched to provide models of livelihood for the tribal shifting cultivators honey-combing the forests. A bilateral collaboration is in the offing with the Nanjing Forestry University of China's Bamboo Engineering Institute for transfer of Chinese Bamboo Industrial Technology for the transfer of superior bamboo technology to Tripura.

There was National Workshop on 23^rd November in which the National Consultant presented a Draft Project Report of 12 crore for developing models for the permanent settlement of tribal Jhumias. Incidentally I requested Mr. Nirbhojay Tripura a Practicing tribal Shifting Cultivator to give the valedictory address and he spoke extremely well and was applauded by the audience for his wisdom. All his suggestions are being incorporated.

Question: Have you involved women work force in your venture?

Answer: We have set up a Bamboo Furniture making unit with a all women Self Help Group and it is proposed go for a bilateral cooperation with Oita Prefecture of Japan under the JBIC project for value addition of the rich Bamboo Resources of Tripura. It may be stressed here that the Bamboo handicrafts of Tripura are already famous in the world but we need to improvise in finishing and longevity of the products for which the Oita Prefecture team that visited Agartala recently.

Question: What innovative steps are being taken to see to it that the Corporation is able to play a major role in Tripura's Economic growth?

Answer: The Corporation is playing a key role in the economic activities of the State. We have implemented several innovative schemes to make the company a very viable unit. Due to infusion of Corporate culture during the past three years the net profit has jumped from 2.5 crore to 14.5 crore in 200-6-07. A fair amount of increase (around 4 crore) is attributed to the rising Rubber Prices, the balance has been achieved through involvement of our workers and an innovative incentive policy implemented under the partnership programme with the workers and staff unions. The daily earning of the workers have increased from a paltry Rs 65 to more than 150 and even up to Rs 300 during peak season. Further, from our activities we are generating around 16 lakh mandays work for the rural poor in our activities. There has been a dramatic improvement in the quality of Rubber sheets produced by us and we have a sellers market now as people from Punjab and Delhi are buying the high quality product from us.

In another step, the industrial estate Nagichera has also been turned into a profitable venture from a constant loss-making unit. With a net annul loss of 52 lakhs in 2004 the unit is now making profit of 1 crore which is likely to go up and up with more investment and the innovative "Swablamban Scheme" under which 100 carpenters were involved in the production of world class Rubber wood Furniture. The unit is now going to be a subsidiary of the Corporation soon. There will be 300 carpenters getting jobs through self help groups for which we have signed a MOU with two private concerns. These people are earning up to Rs 4500 per month from Rs 1500. A Rajasthan based export oriented firm is coming soon for a joint venture for export of knock down furniture.

The Corporation has won Silver Award from among the 500 entries for the Indian Express-EMPI 2006 award for innovative management practices. We have also won the best-managed company "Udyog Ratna" award from Institute of Economic Studies.

In a nutshell, we have in a short period proved that a Government Corporation can also adopt innovative practices and can match the efforts of private sector. We have as a team proved that size does not matter in undertaking innovations and setting standards.

 

Question: What changes the JBIC Tripura Project will bring in the development highway of the state?

 

Answer: This is the first Externally Aided Project in Tripura with an investment of 366 crore. Out of which 306 crore will be given by JBIC as a soft loan and balance 60 crore by the state government to meet the administrative costs and taxes etc. The project will help Tripura eradicate poverty in the rural areas and develop the forest resources particularly the badly areas degarded by the jhumming. There is proposal to develop a world class Non Timber Forest Produce centre of excellence that will develop the Bamboo and other resources of the state and play a key role in socio-economic upliftment of the people and cottage industry development.

 

The project aims at spending finds for creation of water harvesting structures in forest areas through JFM that will not only regenerate the forest and recharge the ground water but also ensure food security through production of fish. There is proposal to enhance the bio-diversity of the state and promote ecotourism. On the whole this is a very well drafted integrated resource management programme. The project will help reduce global warming and help the environment, as more than 60,000 ha land will be planted. in fact North east and particularly Tripura is significantly contributiong is climate change amelioration.

 

 Question: What is so special about Tripura?

Answer: The State is special from the point of view of its strategic location, socio-economic factors and the vast natural resources and the prolific talent yet unexplored. The State is progressing very well as the insurgency is coming down very fast with the steps launched by the Government. From the point of view of All India Service Officers the conditions are fast improving as the infrastructure is developing very fast and air and rail connectivity improving very fast. The biggest plus point is the transparency and honesty in the State's administration. The Governance is excellent with one of the best Panchayat Raj institutions in the country in place and the tribal people enjoying autonomy under VI schedule of constitution the ethnic divide is vanishing fast. The system is responsive to public opinion and is efficient, frugal and all encompassing. One of the high point of State is the public leadership that is humane, clean and hardworking and I think best in India in my opinion. There are no beggars in Tripura and that is the hallmark of a caring people, though more than 65% of the State's population is still below poverty line. These qualities have also percolated down the administration.

The Forest department and its officers are one of the best as they do real hard work first hand. Much more than this it is the confidence and the freedom given by the State Government to me in running the Corporation with the help of committed board members that had significantly contributed in our success.

 It is the vision of State's Chief Minister Shri Manik Sarkar that the Corporation and JBIC and ITTO projects are realizing. Especially the success of CMs guidance is seen at TFDPC industrial estate Nagicherra.

In all these ventures, I feel the highly professional and forestry knowledge based guidance and personal involvement of Hon’ble Forest Minister Jitendra Chaudhury is of great help.

Question: What is the message for the people of Tripura who are residing in the forest?

 

Answer: I would like to say that Forest are for the People and we will like to empower people to manage their resources. The massage is CARE and SHARE the forest and that we should hand over the resources to the next generation in a much better condition because forest are the life sustaining resource base and vital for sustaining human life on this planet.