The Punjab government on Friday gave its in-principal nod for the allotment of about 10 acre land to set up a Centre…
Punjab Chief Minster Amarinder Singh (Photo: FACEBOOK)
The Punjab government on Friday gave its in-principal nod for the allotment of about 10 acre land to set up a Centre sponsored Post Graduate Institute of Excellence in Horticulture. Disclosing this, an official spokesperson said, a meeting in this regard was chaired by Punjab chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh with the officials of the state horticulture department to identify and finalise the land for the proposed institute.
A spokesperson said that the institute was recently announced by the Union finance minister Arun Jaitely. The identified land is located in an area between Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) and the Ram Tirath, the officials of the horticulture department informed during the meeting.
The spokesperson further disclosed that another chunk of 100 acres of land had been identified in Attari for horticulture research in December 2015. He further said that the additional land now identified for allotment would be used to develop the educational institute.
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To be established by the Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) in collaboration with the Punjab government, the institute will help boost crop diversification – a key agenda of Captain Amarinder Singh led government.
According to the spokesperson, Capt Amarinder has directed the Additional Chief Secretary (Horticulture) Himmat Singh to share details of the land with ICAR authorities and has also asked him to invite an ICAR team to inspect the site. He has also instructed the Amritsar deputy commissioner to get all other requisite formalities or permissions cleared for handing over immediate possession of the land to ICAR so that the project can be started at the earliest.
The spokesperson said, with farmers caught in a vicious wheat-paddy cycle and trapped by mounting debts, the state government is aggressively pursuing crop diversification, including horticulture, as a means for creating a new agricultural eco-system.
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