Jaisalmer, Jul 28 (PTI) Jaisalmer's Tanot village, which is famous for Tanot Mata temple close to Indo-Pak border in Western Rajasthan, will have a bamboo-based green cover in the next few years for which 1,000 bamboo saplings have been planted.

To develop green cover in desert, prevent desertification and support local economy, the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on Tuesday planted the bamboo saplings over 2.5 lakh square feet of gram panchayat land in Tanot village.

Tanot Mata Temple is a famous place which is located close to Longewala Post on the Indo-Pak Border and it is situated nearly 120 km from the Jaisalmer city.

Over the years, Tanot has become one of most visited tourist spots in the western Rajasthan.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena launched the plantation programme in presence of Surendra Panwar, Special DG (Western Command) of BSF on Tuesday.

“Bamboo plantation, as part of KVIC's Project BOLD (Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought) aims at serving the combined national goals of reducing desertification and providing livelihood and multi-disciplinary rural industry support to the local population,” according to a release.

The release quoting Saxena said that in the next three years, these bamboos will be ready for harvest. While this will generate recurring income for the local villagers; KVIC will also develop this green patch into a tourist spot considering the large footfall of tourists visiting Longewala post and the Tanot Mata Temple.

He said that the bamboo plantation in the deserts of Jaisalmer will serve multiple objectives of preventing desertification, environment protection and creating a sustainable model of development by supporting rural and bamboo-based industries.

Project BOLD was launched on July 4 from a tribal village of Udaipur with a plantation of 5000 saplings of special bamboo species over 25 bigha of arid land.

Bamboo can be used for making agarbatti sticks, furniture, handicraft, musical instruments and paper pulp while the bamboo waste is widely used in making charcoal and fuel briquette. Bamboos are also known for conserving water and hence useful in arid and drought-prone regions.

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