hoticulture press release

Chandigarh, June 25 - Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hoodasaid that Haryana Government had increased the 235 per cent budget ofHorticulture Department during last three years which is an all timehigh record as the budget for the year 2004-05 was merely Rs 96 lakhand now it had been increased to Rs. 235.93 crore.This was disclosed by the Chief Minister while presiding over areview meeting of Horticulture Department and the schemes beinglaunched under National Horticulture Mission and Micro Irrigationschemes here today.The Chief Minister said that the biggest action plan of NationalHorticulture Mission had been launched in the state which shows that arevolution had ushered in the field of horticulture in the State. Hesaid that two projects with the collaboration of Israel Governmentwould be launched in the State soon, one at Karnal and other at Sirsa.He said that Ambassador of Isreal had recently visited Karnal to seethe site and a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed betweenIsreal and Government of India. The work on Karnal project would startin the end of the July.Mr. Hooda said that under the Micro Irrigation Scheme, 80 per centamount was being incurred by the Government of India and 20 per centby the State Government. He directed the Director, Horticulture thatthe assistance to the tune of 90 per cent should be provided to thefarmers. He directed the Vice-Chancellor of Haryana AgricultureUniversity, Hisar that 15 acres of land should be given to theHorticulture Department for setting up of Isreal-Indo project atUcchani in district Karnal.The Chief Minister exhorted the agriculture scientists that maximumattention should be paid towards the production of quality seeds. Hesaid that for seed production about Rs four crore had been allocatedwhile for the nursery development a sum of Rs 2.16 crore had beenearmarked. He also directed the officers of all department that to getoptimum use of allocated amount. An expenditure of Rs. 42.99 crore hadbeen made under different activities including farm ponds and areaexpansion under fruit plantation.While referring the scheme of Water Conservation being launched inthe State, the Chief Minister said that the water conservation as farmpond had become quite popular which was an initiative of theHorticulture Department. As many as 408 farm ponds had beenconstructed so for and 214 were under construction besides a target ofconstructing 453 community tanks had been earmarked during the currentfinancial year at a cost of Rs. 31.72 crore.The Chief Minister directed the Horticulture Authorities that tissueculture lab of Karnal should be expanded so that maximum seeds andplant of potato, bananas could be prepared. As many as 70,000 plantsof bananas were prepared during last year in this lab while 1.25 lakhbanana trees would be prepared during the current financial yearthrough tissue culture.Mr. Hooda directed that maximum publicity of the schemes beinglaunched by the Horticulture Department should be ensured throughHaryana Samvad, Haryana Review, Jai Haryana and Community Radios.He said that a factory would be set up of grinding turmeric at Radaurand 17,000 tonnes seeds of turmeric had already been distributed amongthe farmers. He also directed the authorities of Haryana AgroIndustries Corporation that the closed processing units at Murthal bestarted again.Agriculture Minister, Mr. H.S. Chatha said that the Department wasgiving a subsidy of 25 per cent for creation of infrastructure andduring 2006-07 the total subsidy of Rs 16.82 crore was released toHaryana Agriculture Marketing Board besides 100 collection centreswere being set up in the State.Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. M.L. Tayal stressed theneed that the review of the schemes of the department should be takenquarterly so that maximum benefit could be given to the farmers asabout 20,000 farmers directly associated with the horticulture. On the occasion Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Dura Ram, FinancialCommissioner and Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Mr. Raj Kumar,Chief Administrator, Haryana Agriculture Marketing Board, Mr. RamNiwas, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. R.D.Sheokand and Director Horticulture Dr. Satbir Singh were also present.