Basohli to be developed as Heritage Town, Aroma StartUp destination: Dr Jitendra

STATE TIMES NEWS

BASOHLI: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh on Sunday said, Basohli is to be developed as Heritage Town and Aroma Start-up destination in coming years.
Dr. Jitendra said this while addressing a public meeting. On the occasion, a Lavender Awareness program was also organised.
Dr. Jitendra said, Basohli was always neglected by the previous governments, thus the development deficit is still seen in this Kandi Area. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014, the priority has been to bring the left out areas into the development mainstream so as to end the development deficit syndrome in these areas.
Reiterating the vision of Prime Minister of India to create a Viksit Bharat & Viksit Jammu and Kashmir, Dr. Jitendra said, the government is focussed on the Poor, Farmers, Youth and Nari Shakti. The Poor, Farmers, Youth and Nari Shakti have been empowered through various government welfare schemes as this government believes in ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ mantra, said Dr. Singh.
In terms of road and highway development, Dr. Jitendra said, North India’s first ever Cable-Stayed Bridge Atal Setu, J&K’s first inter-State bridge at Keerian-Gandyal etc. have been the cornerstones of development never imagined by anyone. Dr. Jitendra said, had Narendra Modi not become the Prime Minister of India in 2014, the Shahpur-Kandi Project would not have been resumed that was stalled from the last 70 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the highest priority to this project as it is the lifeline of this area in many ways, and has the potential to irrigate 4000 acre agricultural land of this area, Dr. Singh emphasised.
Aroma Mission has been started by our neighbouring states like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. As this constituency has been the birthplace of Purple Revolution in India, Basohli must not shy away from starting the lavender cultivation here as this can increase the income of agriculturists of this area manifold.
Prominent among others present were Col. Mohan Singh, Chairman, DDC Kathua, Tajinder Singh, Reeta Thakur and Narayan Dutt Tripathi (All DDC members).
Earlier, Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM, Jammu in his welcome address said that CSIR-IIIM, Jammu besides doing cutting edge Science has been actively involved in the CSIR Aroma Mission and CSIR Floriculture Mission which have far reaching impact on the economic development and rural prosperity.
In the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, assuring full support from CSIR-IIIM, he appealed the farmers, who are real stakeholders of these missions to effectively join with the institute to take forward the activities under such societal projects.
In the technical sessions coordinated by Dr. Suphla Gupta, Nodal Scientist Aroma Mission and Dr. Saurabh Saran, Principal Scientist also provided valuable guidance on cultivation techniques, timing, and potential uses and practical insights into planting techniques and cultivation practices. Dr. Rajinder Bhanweria, Dr. V.P.Rahul, Er. Ankush Varma also delivered expert talk in the technical session.