Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 16: The State Level Executive Committee of Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) headed by Chief Secretary, B R Sharma today approved the project reports for the establishment of Centres of Excellence (CoE) for Fruit Growing in J&K.
Under the Indo-Dutch Joint Action Plan in Horticulture, two Centres of Excellence for fruit growing have been proposed to be established at Zawoora, Srinagar and Udheywala in Jammu for which DPRs have been prepared in consultation with the Dutch experts. The DPRs will now be submitted to the Union Government for approval.
The Executive Committee also approved the Revised Action Plan 2015-16 under the mission to the tune of Rs. 108 crore with project components including import of elite plant material for establishment of high density orchards in Kashmir, hi-tech nurseries, food processing projects, etc.
Following the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Team (JIT) that conducted verification of various Control Atmosphere (CA) storage projects, the Executive Committee approved the release of subsidy as per norms in favour of 5 CA storage projects which have already been approved by the Empowered Monitoring Committee of MIDH Government of India. Accordingly, the Executive Committee approved the proposal for additional allocation of funds to be sent to the Union Government to clear the subsidy in favour of these 5 projects.
The Executive Committee also decided that a Committee will examine the 20 projects of food processing received by the Horticulture Department from private entrepreneurs, seeking financial assistance under MIDH. The Committee after examination of these projects will submit the report to the Chief Secretary.
Commissioner Secretary Agriculture Production, M A Bukhari, Secretary Rural Development, Khurshid A Shah and other senior officers attended the meeting.
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