Request to designate Nodal Officers to track funding and timely submission of CUs

SRINAGAR: Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Livestock, Crop Production and Farmer Welfare Departments, Atal Dulloo today urged the Heads of all Allied Departments to work immediately on formulating annual action plans for all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) to ensure there is timely release and use of funds in UT.

He made the remarks while reviewing the performance achieved under these programs by the respective implementing departments.

The meeting brought together the directors of agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, sheep farming from the two divisions; Director of Sericulture Development and Command Area, and other officers and officials of these departments.

The AEC urged all officials to regularly review the performance of these sectors to record expenditures as foreseen in the plan. He directed them to appoint nodal officers in each of the departments who would monitor the timely submission of usage certificates by their offices and the release of central government funds.

He instructed the finance and planning directors of each department to coordinate with the field offices for each of the objectives of plan formulation, timely submission for approval, regular monitoring and recording of expenditures in accordance to the approved action plan.

Dulloo urged them to expedite the sponsorship process for all projects under NABARD. He advised them to initiate early for better results at the end and to identify other projects to sponsor. He also asked them to work for the extension of Saffron Mission and PARVAZ for the overall benefit of J&K farmers.

Taking further note, he directed the officers to work to improve the incomes of small and marginal farmers who make up approximately 90% of UT’s farming community. He said that traditional practices and agricultural inputs must be replaced by new varieties in order to exponentially increase the incomes of these marginal farmers.

He urged them to consider ways and means to do the same. He stressed that the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will work with us in this regard. He proposed that the outline for the same should be like identifying about 10 crop varieties for GI labeling, seeking technical support and marketing or adding value to our products from that international organisation. He told them to identify in advance resource persons with sufficient knowledge of the field to liaise with them.

It was stated at the meeting that an amount of Rs 38.34 crore has been spent by different wings of AP&FW department under CSS like NMSA, PMFBY, NMAET, NFSM, PMKSY and others till March 2022. in addition to these, an amount of Rs 7.50 crores was spent by the department on NABARD sponsored projects in UT.

Similarly, in the horticulture department, an amount of Rs 13.70 crore was spent on the Integrated Horticulture Development Mission (MIDH) and Rs 66.70 crore under the PM Development Plan (PMDP ).

It was clarified that all these programs, including that of the livestock department, aim to modernize infrastructure and machinery for producers. Furthermore, its objectives are to improve farmers’ incomes by providing them with the necessary support in terms of modern agricultural inputs and accessories to increase farmers’ incomes in J&K’s UT.