Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami flagged off the first consignment of mangoes, honey and kidney beans from Uttarakhand for sale in international markets from his residence on Friday. The consignment from the state is being exported by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) which is an agency of the government of India. The consignment had 1.5 tonnes of mangoes, 28 tonnes of kidney beans and 80 tonnes of honey.
Speaking on the occasion CM Dhami appreciated the initiative of sending local products to foreign destinations by the medium of APEDA. He expressed confidence that one would witness a big increase in the export of local products from the state now.
The CM said that the state government is consistently working in ensuring better marketing for the local produce and for it special focus on branding, packaging and marketing of local products is being done. He said that more efforts need to be put into promotion of local products. The CM said that the state government has prepared an agriculture calendar for increasing the income of farmers and making effective planning and arrangements for them. He said that efforts with the help of agriculture, cooperative and horticulture departments are being made for development of clusters for augmenting the income of small farmers. He said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a resolve to double the income of farmers and the Uttarakhand government is committed to fulfil this resolve. Dhami said that the schemes of the state and union government related with agriculture development and welfare are being taken to the persons standing last on the social ladder. The CM further said that the agriculture, irrigation, horticulture and other related departments should prepare plans for increasing the income of farmers of the state on 25th anniversary of creation of the state and they should start pilot projects for it. Dhami added that the state government would come out with the Kisan Protsahan Scheme for farmers.
The Agriculture minister Ganesh Joshi said that many schemes are being operated in the state for doubling the income of farmers. He said that the agriculture and horticulture departments set a target to double the production of the state in the year 2025.
The Agriculture secretary Shailesh Bagauli said that for the first time Chausa and Langda varieties of mangoes are being exported to Dubai from the state. Similarly the honey and kidney beans would be sent to the USA.
The additional secretary of Agriculture, Ranvir Singh Chauhan, Horticulture director HS Baweja, Agriculture director Gauri Shankar and others were present on the occasion.
Draining sewage into Ganga matter of concern- HC
Friday, 06 August 2022 | PNS | NAINITAL
Stating that draining of sewage in the Ganga river is a matter of concern, the Uttarakhand high court has directed the Irrigation secretary, chief engineer and superintendent engineer to submit their replies in court while hearing a public interest litigation regarding alleged anomalies in sewage treatment plant works in Haridwar and untreated sewage being drained in the Ganga river. The court has asked what steps are being taken to complete the sewage treatment plant projects and what action has been taken against the officials responsible for anomalies in the projects.
The PIL filed by Ratanmani Dobhal was taken up for hearing by the division bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice RC Khulbe. The petitioner has stated that budget was released for three sewage treatment projects under the Irrigation department in the Haridwar district. The petitioner stated that these include Rs 2365 lakh project approved by NABARD and Rs 2260 lakh for the project under the Central government’s Ganga Flood Control Commission (GFCC). The petition further states that the Subhashgarh irrigation canal has to be constructed at a cost of Rs 695.98 lakh under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) in the Haridwar district. However, these projects are still incomplete despite the funds having been spent and the sewerage is being drained in the Ganga, the petition states. The petitioner also submitted a probe report regarding two of the projects which shows that the engineers at that time along with others had orchestrated irregularities in the execution. The inquiry by the chief engineer also confirms this, said the petitioner. After hearing both the sides, the high court has directed the government and others to submit their replies within four weeks.
