Chief Minister, Ms Mehbooba Mufti today chaired the 57th Board of Directors meeting of the Jammu and Kashmir Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation (JKHPMC). The meeting has been convened after a gap of three years.Minister of State for Horticulture, Ms Priya Sethi, Financial Commissioner, Planning & Development, Mr B B Vyas, Principal Secretary Forests, Mr Rakesh Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr Navin Kumar Choudhary, Secretary Horticulture, Mr M H Malik, Managing Director, JKHPMC, Director Horticulture Kashmir/Jammu, Director Horticulture, Planning & Marketing, Director Sericulture and other officers of the Corporation were present in the meeting.Speaking at the meeting the Chief Minister, who is also the Chairperson of the Corporation, called for setting up a Standing Committee to work-out the modalities for the merger of the JKHPMC and Horticulture Planning and Marketing Department in terms of the recommendations made by the High Powered Committee constituted by the Government in 2002 to look into the functioning of the PSUs.Flagging horticulture as a key sector for the State’s economy, the Chief Minister said there will be visible change in this sector during the next two years with some progressive interventions being made by the Government.“The Government is taking major initiatives to turnaround the horticulture sector with inclusive focus on production, harvesting and marketing of the horticulture produce,” the Chief Minister said.
She said besides introducing high density plants and root stocks imported from Europe to increase productivity, pesticide testing and soil testing laboratories are being established in various parts of the State to ensure better quantity and quality of fruit. The Chief Minister said for better marketing facilities new Fruit and Vegetable Markets are being established at Jablipora, Anantnag, Aglar, Shopian and Prayote, Doda. She said Kissan Ghar and Multi-Commodity Cold Store at Kolkatta have also been sanctioned under NABARD.She said out of the 21 Satellite Fruit and Vegetable Markets proposed to be developed in the State against the project cost of Rs 118.82 crore, seven markets are already functional in Kashmir and one in Jammu while the rest are likely to be completed and made functional within next two years. “Besides, eight Apni Mandies are also under the process of development in the State,” she said.Ms Mehbooba said the Government is also increasing the capacity of Controlled Atmospheric Stores (CAS) to address shortfall as part of the post harvesting management programme.The other issues discussed at the meeting included upgradation of Juice Plant at Doabgah Sopore, setting up of integrated Pack House at Shopian, establishment of Cold Store at Vegetable and Fruit Market Narwal (Jammu) and proper utilization of the assets of JKHPMC.Earlier, the Managing Director JKHPMC gave a detailed presentation about the functioning of the Corporation. He said out of the 37 plants of the Corporation only one plant is presently functional as all others have suffered major damages during the turmoil. He said the net assets of the Corporation are at Rs 279 crore including 732 kanals of land.