Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 2 Feb: The annual Vasantotsav held at Lok Bhawan, here, will be organised this year from 27 February to 1 March. In this regard, a meeting was held on Monday at Lok Bhawan under the chairmanship of the Governor, Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh (Retd).
During the meeting, the Governor directed that Vasantotsav should be organised with complete enthusiasm, joy and festive spirit, ensuring maximum public participation so that the general public can directly connect with the event. Emphasising wide publicity of the festival, the Governor stated that the event should not remain limited to the local level, but efforts should be made to connect it with other states as well. He also directed that officials and representatives from other states be invited for this purpose.
The Governor instructed that during Vasantotsav, food courts should be set up with the cooperation of IHM, GMVN and women self-help groups of the state, based on the theme of traditional coarse grains (millets). He said that special emphasis would be laid on promoting honey production through the festival.
In the meeting, the Governor also announced that, from this year onwards, ‘Governor’s Special Award’ will be conferred on progressive farmers, women and youth startups on the occasion of Vasantotsav. Individuals and institutions doing outstanding work in the field of floriculture in these three categories will be honoured with this award. He directed officials to complete all arrangements related to the event in a timely manner.
The Governor said that Vasantotsav is being organised to promote floriculture in Uttarakhand. Stressing the need to link flower exhibitions with commercial activities, he said that flowers produced in the state should be marketed not only within Uttarakhand but across the country. He further stated that Uttarakhand is specially blessed with products like honey, aroma and millets, and therefore special focus should be given to these sectors during this year’s Vasantotsav.
Officials informed the meeting that competitions will be organised in 15 different categories during the flower exhibition, with 165 prizes to be awarded. Attractive band performances will be presented by ITBP, IMA, PAC, Pipe Band and Home Guards. Cultural evenings featuring popular district-level cultural programmes will also be organised.
This year, for the first time, NIM Uttarkashi will present a live demonstration, while NIVH and Niramaya Yoga Gram will conduct yoga demonstrations. In addition, judo and martial arts performances will also be organised during the festival. A painting competition will be held for school children in the age group of 5 to 18 years, including children from orphanages, children with disabilities and children of ragpicker communities.
Several competitions under various categories have been proposed for the flower exhibition, including cut flower, potted plant arrangement, loose flower arrangement, hanging pots, as well as on-the-spot photography. As in previous years, competitions related to lilium exhibition, vegetable gardening, bonsai gardening, soil-less hydroponic farming, terrarium and honey processing will also be organised. Flower exhibitions and competitions by commercial and private flower growers, as well as various government gardens, along with flower-based rangoli competitions, will also be held.
The meeting was attended by Director General, Home Guards, Dr PVK Prasad; Secretary to the Governor Ravinath Ram; Legal Advisor Kaushal Kishore Shukla; Secretary, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, SN Pandey; Secretary, Finance, Dr V Shanmugam; Additional Secretary to the Governor Reena Joshi; Director, Horticulture, SL Semwal; Joint Director, Information, Dr Nitin Upadhyay, along with officers from the Tourism, Horticulture, ITBP, ONGC, IHM, GMVN, India Post, Forest Department, Police and Culture Departments.
