Empowering the Northeast: Nitin Gadkari Inaugurated Bamboo Agarbatti stick making unit in Assam
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New Delhi, February 19: Strengthening the employment in Assam while pushing the Aatmnirbhar Bharat initiative, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated a major Bamboo Agarbatti Stick-making unit named “Keshari Bio Products LLP” in Assam.
This unit has come amid when Modi governments have put restrictions on the import of raw agarbatti from China and Vietnam and also a hike in import duty on round bamboo sticks for agarbatti. The two decisions were taken essentially to curb the huge import of agarbatti and bamboo sticks from the two countries that had crippled the Indian agarbatti industries.
At present, the consumption of incense sticks in India is pegged at a whopping 1490 tons per day but only 760 tons per day is locally produced. Hence, the huge gap between the demand and supply resulted in heavy import of raw agarbatti. Apart from making agarbatti, the company also utilises a huge quantity of waste bamboo into making bio-fuel and various other products.
While inaugurating, Gadkari also expressed happiness over the new bamboo stick unit in Assam saying this would go a long way in strengthening the local Agarbatti industry which has a huge potential for local employment creation. “This is the most appropriate example of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” which aims at creating local employment and sustainable livelihood,” he said.
It is noteworthy that only 16% of bamboo is used for making Agarbatti sticks while the remaining 84% of bamboo goes waste. However, with diverse technology employed by Keshari Bio Products LLP, every bit of the bamboo is utilised. The waste bamboo is burnt to produce methane gas which is mixed with diesel as an alternate fuel. The burnt bamboo is also used for making charcoal powder for Agarbatti and fuel briquettes. The waste bamboo is also used for making ice-cream sticks, chopsticks, spoons, and other items.
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