Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan unveils Rs 369cr projects to boost agri sector in Uttarakhand

RUDRAPUR: Union minister of agriculture, farmers’ welfare and rural development Shivraj Singh Chouhan, accompanied by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, on Friday launched the Khet Bachao Abhiyan (save the fields campaign) and laid the foundation stones for 41 development projects worth Rs 369 crores in Rudrapur, Udham Singh Nagar district, and announced a slew of initiatives aimed at transforming Uttarakhand into a horticulture powerhouse. The programme began with ceremonial lamp-lighting and floral tributes at Gandhi Ground, where Chouhan inaugurated nine projects worth Rs 46 crore and laid the foundation stones for 32 projects costing Rs 323 crore. Addressing farmers, he said, “If our fields survive, the land will survive; if the land survives, the earth will survive; and if the earth survives, life will survive.” Chouhan also revealed plans for a Rs 100-crore clean plant centre at Mukteshwar to provide quality planting material for apples, walnuts and almonds.

He also announced financial aid of up to Rs 4 crore for large nurseries and Rs 2 crore for smaller ones, a Rs 15- crore centre of excellence at Chaubattia, a Rs 15-crore New Zealand-supported kiwi development project, Rs 65 crore for crop fencing against wild animals and Rs 104 crore for automatic weather stations.

Dhami described the campaign as “a people’s movement to secure the future of coming generations” and said, “Healthy farmers, soil and agricultural ecosystems are the foundation of a developed India and a developed Uttarakhand.”

The ministers inaugurated the two-day BRAIN 3.0 National Consultation Workshop at Pantnagar’s Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. In a rare interaction with students, Chouhan entered the paddy fields at the university’s practical crop production farm and participated in paddy transplantation.