* Reviews achievements of Agri Deptt
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 20: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today in a meeting of Floriculture, Gardens & Parks Department, assessed progress on development of Chrysanthemum Theme Park (Bagh-Gul-e-Dawood) at Botanical Garden, Srinagar.
Present in the meeting were Commissioner Secretary, Floriculture Department, Commissioner Secretary, Tourism, DG, Codes, DG, Budget, representative from SKUAST-K and other concerned officers.
Dulloo, while reviewing the current status of the project, enquired about its viability from the concerned faculty of SKUAST Kashmir. He said that establishment of such gardens should be explored at other tourism destinations, besides in and around the Jammu city.
He asked the department to look into creating these autumn season attractions for further prolonging the tourism season in J&K. He advised them to coordinate with the local Agricultural Universities and Tourism Department for enhancing their access and reach in most of the feasible locations of J&K.
Commissioner Secretary, Floriculture, Gardens & Parks, Sheikh Fayaz, in his presentation, informed that following the success of world famous Tulip Garden the Department has initiated the process of establishing Chrysanthemum Theme Park under the name of (Bagh-Gul-e-Dawood) near Botanical Garden, Srinagar on an area of around 100 Kanal of land.
He revealed that this flower is known as ‘Queen of East’ and blooms lately in the months of October and November in diverse hues and colours. It was informed that the flowers would add true delight to autumn months being considered as a symbol of royalty.
The meeting was apprised that the Rs 40 lakh work has been allotted to R&B Department for execution this year. The total cost to be incurred on establishment of this park has been estimated at Rs 1.87 crore together with creation of other amenities and utilities for the visitors who would be able to visit it from next autumn when it would be thrown open for public.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary held a meeting of Agriculture Production Department (APD) to review progress achieved on different initiatives being taken for advancing farmers welfare and growth of agriculture sector in J&K.
Present in the meeting were Principal Secretary, APD, MD, HADP, Deputy Commissioners, HoDs, Convenor, UTLBC and other concerned officers of the department.
Dulloo, while assessing progress on establishment of Kisan Khidmat Ghars (KKGs) across different districts of the UT, emphasised upon the concerned to keep increasing services being extended through these KKGs. He observed that such steps would accentuate the impact of these centres besides bringing efficiency in their functioning and utility for the farmers. He enjoined upon the Department to establish rest of the KKGs by January this year and make a dashboard to monitor the transactions regarding necessary advisories, sale of seeds and fertilisers by each of them.
The Chief Secretary also enquire from the respective DCs about the functioning of KKGs in their districts. He called upon them to make these centres active by establishing kiosks for each of them in the villages of their operation. He also took note of the hardware received by each DC and its distribution among the Kisan Udhyamis (KUs) of their districts. He stressed on exploring ways and means to make all those KKGs functional for which KUs had not been made available till date.
Principal Secretary, APD, Shailendra Kumar, emphasised upon the field functionaries to ensure that all the 2000 KKGs are made functional before February this year. He directed for taking the registration numbers to at least 500 per KKG. He also enjoined upon them to convert the ongoing events of Kisan Sampark Abhiyan 3.0 and Block Diwas as the major camps for registration of farmers besides creating awareness among them.
Later, the Chief Secretary reviewed the progress made by the Department in seeding of Aadhar and land details on PM KISAN portal. He directed the DCs to make all efforts to remove the pendencies with regard to completion of NPCI, e-KYC and land seeding pendencies.