World famous heritage crop at verge of extinction
Avtar Bhat
SRINAGAR, Oct 17: Turning tough on mining mafia and encroachers to save the world famous Safforn of Pampore in Pulwama district of Kashmir valley from extinction, the Government has issued stern warning to mafia and directed the Agriculture Department to seize entire machinery of mining mafia indulging in extraction of soil from saffron land and also take legal action against them.
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The Government will not allow the mining, encroachment and change of status of the Saffron land in Pampore at any cost which is facing serious threat from land encroachers and mining mafia, official sources told Excelsior.
Sources said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Javed Dar after receiving complaints about threat being faced by Saffron land from mafia and land encroachers that may result in extinction of this heritage crop has issued directives to Agriculture Department to act tough against the encroachers and mafia by showing no leniency to them.
Sources said that there is a brewing public resentment against the encroachment of Saffron land in Pampore tehsil and sale of soil that will hamper the production of crop for years together. Sources said recently a video went viral showing that soil from vast area of high yielding saffron land in Wuyan Pampore being extracted by mining mafia who had used men and machinery for the same. This evoked wide spread criticism and local people also showed their strong resentment against increasing mining in the area and the people and public representatives were forced to take up the issue with Ministry.
Sources said that the Rs 400 crore World Saffron Mission sanctioned by Government of India in 2010-11 has also turned into a “total failure” after some growers in league with mining mafia sold the soil of the prime Saffron land while others have started rat race for selling this prime land for construction of residential colonies and commercial complexes.
Entire Pampore tehsil producing Saffron is a heritage land and the crop of this soil is famous world over. Even the Saffron of Iran and Afghanistan is of very low grade in comparison to the Saffron of Pampore which has a unique place because of its colour and fragrance, sources said, adding in case there is no check to save this treasure trove the Saffron of Pampore will extinct in near future and it will become a story of past that Saffron was once grown in Pampore.
Sources said earlier in entire Pampore belt, 80 percent land was meant for Saffron and 20 percent for residential area but in coming times there will be only 20 percent land left for growing Saffron while rest will be converted into residential and commercial complexes or other things.
Nazir Ahmed, a Saffron grower said farmers are getting hefty amount from the mining mafia for extracting soil from the Saffron land to be used in Cement factories and they sell the soil without thinking about its future repercussions. This has been a cause of concern for the genuine people who want to protect this heritage crop, he added.
A M Wani, president Saffron Growers Association said that failure of Agriculture and Mining Department to act against the mafia has led to the rapid extraction of soil from various areas in entire Saffron belt. He said Saffron was grown on 3200 hectares of land and hundreds of hectares have now either been encroached or are not worth for cultivating of the crop due to extraction of soil by the mining mafia.
He said some of the growers after getting subsidy under world Saffron Mission of the Government of India hobnobbed with mining mafia and sold soil to them with the result the Saffron Mission was rendered useless. He said the authorities did not bother to check this menace and gave a long rope to mafia which is the cause of worry. “If stringent measures were not taken we will repent in future,” he added.
He said the Saffron crop also faced vagaries of weather due to continuous drought for last two years and in four years period if there is no rain the corm gets damaged due to lack of timely Irrigation facilities.
Wani said that the Government needs to pay immediate attention and if they fail to do the same within three to four years there will be no Saffron. He said the lack of attention and vigilance on part of Department has led to damage of bore wells constructed under world Saffron Mission. Their pipes have been broken and other accessories have been stolen, he added.
However, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Javed Dar said that the Government will not allow encroachment and extracting of soil from Saffron land. “We are committed to safeguard the interests of Saffron growers and save this world famous heritage crop of Kashmir”, he added.
He said the issue was brought in his notice by MLA, Pampore Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi who showed his serious concern over the extraction of soil from Saffron land at various places in Pampore tehsil and immediately he convened a meeting of the Agriculture Department and issued orders warning strict action against the mining mafia as well as the land encroachers.
He said the officers of the Department have been issued directives to act strictly and seize entire machinery from the encroachment site of Saffron land and take legal action against those found indulging in mining and extracting of soil from Saffron land.ge crop at verge of extinction
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