Srinagar March 31 (KNS): Director General Horticulture Kashmir Ajaz Ahmad Baht (JKAS) on Thursday visited Lassipora Pulwama and adjoining area. He inspected various CA stores, grading line and other post-harvest infrastructure and took stock of functioning of these infrastructures.
Speaking on the occasion Director General said Department is committed to strengthen the post-harvest infrastructure in the valley and is exploring every possible opportunity to have the infrastructures like CA stores, Processing Units etc. He further stressed on use of mechanization at all stages for enhancing the work productivity rather than depending upon manual work. He further advised CA Store owners to create grower friendly atmosphere and urged them to provide quality services to the growers. He further added that currently we have some 40 CA stores functioning in UT with an estimated capacity of 2.5 lakh metric tonne.
He enjoined upon the entrepreneurs to come forward and set up more CA Store and other postharvest units as we still have low CA storage capacity when compared to the annual production. Later, Director General Horticulture chaired a function organized to bid farewell to Deedar Singh HTG-IV who retired from the department on attaining the age of superannuation. The function was attended by various officer/officials of the department. Speaking on the occasion DG described the retiring official as an honest and dedicated worker who has served for more than two decades in the Department. He further wished him a happy post retirement life filled fun and happiness.(KNS)