Advisor(G) meets Union Agriculture Secy

New Delhi: Advisor to Governor, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai Thursday met the Union Agriculture Secretary, S. K. Pattnayak here and discussed the progress of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes in the State in the presence of Senior officers of the State and Central Governments.
During the meeting, all flagship programs like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), Mission For Integrated Development Of Horticulture (MIDH), Saffron Mission, Prime Minister’s Development Program(PMDP) etc. came up for threadbare discussion. It was agreed in the meeting that the State Government will send Utilization Certificates and detailed proposals to the Union Ministry to enable release of pending allocations from the Ministry under all these schemes.
The Union Agriculture Secretary assured all support to the State Government in the implementation of these programs.
The State Government Officers apprised the Union Secretary of the difficulties being faced on the ground in timely execution of the schemes and the need for early release under these schemes in view of the limited working season in most parts of the State.
The Union Ministry, agreeing to the observations of the Advisor and the State Officers agreed to the release of held up instalments.
Sharing the expertise of ICAR and strengthening academic and research activities at the SKUAST-J/K were also agreed during the meeting. It was also felt that the Ministry shall authorise a certain percentage of funds under all the schemes for the Universities for research and academic support.
The meeting also discussed at length the setting up of cold storage facility in Ladakh region and use of solar energy in the region.
Secretary, Horticulture and Agriculture, Manzoor Ahmad Lone; Vice Chancellors of SKUAST-K/J and other senior officers of State and Central Governments were present in the meeting.