Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 29: Governor N. N. Vohra, Chairman of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, inaugurated the hi-tech nursery established by the Shrine Board at Kunia, Panthal.
This nursery, with its various specialized components, has been established at an expenditure of over Rs 4.27 crore to rear indigenous species of plants, compatible with the local climatic conditions, for greening the Trikuta Hills.
The Governor inspected the different wings of the nursery which include a Nature Interpretation Centre, an Automatic hi-tech Mist Chamber and a Naturally Ventilated Polygreen House. He directed Ajeet Kumar Sahu, the CEO of the Shrine Board, to prepare a Detailed Project Report for Phase-II of the nursery and start the process of land leveling so that the expanding requirements of the Shrine Board for quality planting material can be met in-house.
He also asked for starting the cultivation of hybrid flowers and ornamental plants to meet the emerging requirements of beautifying the Tarakote Marg and other areas visited by the pilgrims.
Governor directed Ravinder Kumar, Deputy Commissioner Reasi, to expedite the improvement and black topping of the Panthal-Devi Pindian road.
Maj. Gen. (Retd) Shiv Kumar Sharma, Member of the Shrine Board; Mohammad Afzal Bhat, Commissioner/ Secretary, Forests; Prof. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University; A. K. Singh, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests; Ajeet Kumar Sahu, Chief Executive Officer, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board; Ravinder Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Reasi; Dr. M. K.. Kumar, Additional CEO of the Board and Shahzad Choudhary, DFO Reasi were present on this occasion.
It is pertinent to mention that the Governor has been emphasising the crucial need to focus on planting of indigenous species of plants so as to meet the requirement of planting material for progressively securing an extensive green cover in the entire Trikuta Hills.
Consequently, successive CEOs have taken steps to establish a modern nursery at Kunia which is spread over an area of 30 kanals. The Forest Wing of the Shrine Board, apart from identifying indigenous species of plants, has also been focusing on enhancing the production capacity of quality planting stock.
The nursery is quite popular with the Forest Training Institutions of various States as well as Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy Dehradun, which regularly send their trainees for exposure to the Nursery.
Among those present on this occasion were Pankaj Gupta, Dy. CEO, Shrine Board; Neelam Khajuria, SDM, Katra; Sumir Kotwal, Additional SP Katra; Rajinder Singh, OSD, SMV-DSB; Dr. (Brig) Man Mohan Harjai, Chief Administrative Officer, Suneet Marwah, CEO and Manu Ramachandar, Facility Director, SMVDNSH, Kakryal; other concerned officers and engineers of the Shrine Board.
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