By Our Staff Reporter
DEHRADUN, 3 Nov: The 7th meeting of the Uttarakhand Horticultural Council Management Committee was held at the Veer Madho Singh Bhandari Kisan Bhawan, here, under the chairmanship of State Agriculture and Horticulture Minister Ganesh Joshi.
Along with presenting the income and expenditure statements of the council for the past year, a presentation on the work done by the board as per the decisions taken at the last meeting was made. After which the agenda of the meeting was discussed point wise.
Approval was given by the Management Committee on the nomination of the Director General, Agriculture and Horticulture, as a member of the General Assembly and Executive Committee of the Council. To make the Horticulture Department paperless and digitise the horticulture data and carry out all the activities through digital mediums, the Board was directed to inform about the expenditure details of the project along with approval of “Project Digital Garden”.
Approval was given by the Management Committee for the creation of the “Umbrella Brand Name” under the Uttarakhand Horticultural Council for better marketing and wider promotion of all agricultural and horticultural products produced in the state. Farmers of the state that have land suitable for agriculture and horticulture and are migrating from the state to other places have left their fields fallow. Arrangements are being made with such farmers to work as service providers through the Council on ‘Project Bagh-Bahar’ for land development/horticulture through a tripartite agreement (between the landowner, the Council and the service provider organisation).
In view of the cooperation of small groups established in the state, approval was given by the management committee for organising a three-day festival “The Brand of Uttarakhand” in Dehradun. Before setting up and operating a retail outlet/store on the lines of HPMC for the sale of agricultural produce, the Uttarakhand Horticultural Council will select its brand and get the land for the retail outlets selected at appropriate places, so that the usefulness of the outlets may be ensured. The approval of the Management Committee was given for establishing buyer-seller meetings. In view of the increasing scope of work of the Council, approval was given regarding the appointment of subject experts of the Horticulture Department in the Council on a deputation basis.
Agriculture Minister Joshi said that the meetings of the Management Committee and Executive Committee of the Council should be held at the appointed time as per the rules. The Minister said that various horticultural inputs should be made available to the farmers of the state on time. The departmental officers in the state directly communicated with the farmers and got information from them and also gave instructions to solve their problems quickly. He said that the board meeting should be held on time, so that the purpose for which the board meeting is held can be achieved. He proposed action plans to provide housing facilities to the farmers associated with the horticulture sector. He also instructed the officers working in the field of horticulture to visit Himachal and Kashmir. The Minister said that a seminar should be held with the farmers and their experiences included.
On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary Anand Vardhan, Director General, Agriculture and Horticulture Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Deputy Secretary Industries Shiv Shankar Mishra, CEO Board Narendra Yadav, Managing Director Vijay Thapliyal, Deputy Director Meenakshi Tiwari, Director Mahendra Pal and members of the Board Committee were present.
