Paper industry seeks degraded forest lands to raise plantations

The Indian Paper Manufacturers Association (IPMA) here on Friday emphasised the need for handing over the degraded forest lands and wastelands to the paper industry for raising plantations for not only meeting the raw material requirement of the industry but also for "greening India" and meeting the fuel requirements of farmers in the rural areas.

According to IPMA president, Rajeev R Vederah, there is nearly 65 million hectares of degraded forest and wasteland in India which continues to remain as the "non productive asset of the country." He wanted the government to encourage the paper industry to undertake plantations in these lands.

"In this regard, the government could as well constitute a regulatory framework so as to oversee and ensure that the paper industry properly utilises the land allotted to it," Vederah, who is also the joint managing director of Ballarpur Industries Limited, told mediapersons while briefing the issues confronting the paper sector in the country.

IPMA vice-president and chief executive officer of ITC Bhadrachalam, Pradeep Dhobale, said the paper manufacturers could meet their raw material requirement if just 3 per cent of the total degraded forest land in the country was made available to the industry.

He said that requirement of pulp wood for the manufacture of paper in the country would increase from the current level of 55 lakh tonnes to 85 lakh tonnes a year in 10 years down the line.

IPMA secretary general, R Narayan Moorthy, sought government support to the paper industry for meeting the growing domestic demand for paper, enhancing the per capita consumption, achieving economies of scale and attaining global competitiveness.

Executive director of Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Limited, R C Mall, called for a public-private participation in greening of India.

This apart, in its pre-budget memorandum submitted to finance minister P Chidambaram, IPMA sought adoption of a uniform excise duty of 8 per cent regardless of the paper mill size and raw material usage, maintaining the custom duty on paper and paper board at the current 15 per cent level and, like in the case of the textile sector, creation of a Technology Upgradation Fund.