Commissioner Secretary, Parks Gardens and Floriculture, Sheikh Fayaz Ahmad, today chaired a meeting at civil secretariat to review working of Floriculture Department.The meeting was attended by Director Floriculture Kashmir, Deputy Directors and district officers of the department.The meeting held threadbare discussion regarding mega flower festival going to be organised by the floriculture department Kashmir in which growers from all the districts will be participating.Commissioner Secretary directed the officers to make all preparations in advance for the flower festival. He stressed on the need to spread awareness among the locals about the cultivation of flowers which have potential and scope to benefit people and improve their standards of living.
He said that department will be introducing an online portal that will provide information for the tourists and stakeholders. The services that will be made online included E-ticketing for gardens and parks, e-permission for photo and video shooting in gardens, e-registration for flower growers and other things. He said that the department will also launch a dedicated 24x7 helpline to assist the tourists in all possible ways.He said that queuing up for long time was cumbersome for the visitors, so E-ticketing will be introduced in all the gardens and parks to make the visit of tourists hassle free. He said that the online portal will also provide us information about the number of tourists visiting the gardens.During the meeting, Commissioner Secretary was briefed about the activities of the department, physical and financial status of ongoing and new works, status of centrally sponsored schemes, court cases, list of deliverables and maintenance of parks.
The list of deliverables among other things included development of Lupin Garden/Club Park at Gulmarg, environmental Awareness and Campaigns, conducting Swachhta Abhiyans in Gardens and parks, training/Exposure visits of growers.Commissioner Secretary directed the concerned officials to draw up an activity calendar so as to meet the deadline of various set deliverables.He directed the officers to expedite the tendering and evaluation process and allotment of works be ensured by the fixed deadlines. He impressed upon the officers to meet the timelines targeted for completion of various tasks.Commissioner Secretary directed the district officers to focus on commercial floriculture in their respective districts and highlight the achievements through print and electronic media. He also directed the officers to involve schools in every district in the Swachhta Abhiyans.While appreciating the officers for successfully organizing the tulip festival and delivering on various fronts, he said that he will be personally monitoring the performance of employees on regular basis. He directed for maintenance of gardens and parks in all respects to cater to the huge influx of tourists.