Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 30: The 5th State Level Empowered Committee (SLEC) meeting chaired by Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey approved various proposals submitted for availing financial assistance under the National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP) scheme in the State.
Financial Commissioner, Industries and Commerce, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Principal Secretary Planning, B. R. Sharma, Commissioner Secretary Agriculture Production, Asgar Samoon, and other senior officers were present in the meeting.
Managing Director SIDCO made a presentation on the status of implementation of the NMFP scheme in the State and details of proposals received during the current year for availing of grant in aid.
The Chief Secretary directed J&K SIDCO, which is the nodal agency to implement the scheme, to release the balance amount, out of the grants sanctioned in favour of the already approved projects at the earliest, subject to fulfilment of required formalities.
The Committee gave its approval to the proposed allocation of funds to the tune of Rs. 23.21 crore among various components of NMFP scheme for the year 2014-15. It also emphasized on creation of food testing lab infrastructure for quality assurance to ensure safety and quality of food products and asked the nodal agency to ensure the presence of an in-house quality assurance mechanism in all the food processing units.
The eligible sectors for financial assistance under the mission include fruits and vegetables, milk products, meat, poultry, cereal and other consumer products.
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