Eland in bamboo trade pact

The Delhi-based Eland International Pvt Ltd would invest Rs 265 crore to promote plantation of bamboo and its products in Uttaranchal, a top company official said.

Eland had signed a pact with the state government to provide plantation materials to panchayats and motivate people to grow bamboo, Pavan Sinha, company vice-president, said.

"This is a buy-back agreement, which will involve private and public participation for plantation of 150,000 acres of bamboo," he said.

The company wanted to enter into socio-economic agro-based projects to use the unused resources of Uttaranchal for the benefit and upliftment of the people especially in hilly areas and create employment opportunities through a non-government organisation, which would be promoted by the company, Sinha said.