Principal Secretary Agriculture Production Department Sundeep Kumar Nayak on Wednesday chaired a State Level Project Screening Committee (SLPSC) meeting on Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) at Agricultural Complex Lalmandi Srinagar.Sundeep Kumar while addressing the meeting said that for the current fiscal, an amount of Rs. 32.81 crores shall be spent against the approved action plan of 2016-17. In addition to RKVY, He said, National Mission on Saffronis under implementation which is aims to revive the economic potential of the Saffron crop in the traditional Saffron growing belts of the state.RKVY is a beneficiary oriented programme where there is focus on production, marketing and mechanization.He further said that 22 departments are bought under RKVY and have been instructed that 60-70%expenditure should be completed upto September-October so that Utilisation Certificates (UC’s) can be sent to government of India and more allocation can be demanded.He said that till now Rs 238.75 Crore have been released under this scheme out of which Rs 232.07 crore have been spent upto March 2017.
Principal Secretary also instructed SKUAST-J and Director Agriculture Jammu for development of Saffron Processing Unit at Kishtawar on research and development basis.Vice Chancellors of SKUAST Jammu, Pradeep Kumar Sharma and Prof. Nazeer Ahmad were also present in the meeting. Mission Director RKVY and Director Agriculture Kashmir Altaf Aijaz Andrabi presented power point presentation on RKVY.Director Agriculture Kashmir said that 99 projects are underway, which also include 14 new projects by agriculture and allied departments for the current financial year.Secretary Agriculture J&K APD, Director Agriculture Jammu, Chief Conservator Forest Department, Director Sericulture J&K, Director Floriculture Kashmir, Director Fisheries J&K, Director Animal Husbandry Jammu, Director Animal Husbandry Kashmir, Director Horticulture Kashmir, Director Research SKUAST-K, Joint Director Floriculture, Deputy Registrar Cooperative Society, Deputy Director Sheep Husbandry and concerned officers attended the meeting.