Uttarakhand: Chief Secretary gave instructions to the officers, small food processing units should be promoted in hilly areas

Chief Secretary Dr. S.S. Sandhu discussed the food processing promotion strategy with the officials at the secretariat on Wednesday. During the meeting, the Chief Secretary asked the officials to promote small food processing units in the hilly areas. The Chief Secretary said that due to lack of transport facilities or blocking of routes, various products of hilly areas could not reach the market in time. This causes huge loss to the farmers. He said that for this, such a policy should be prepared that maximum weightage can be given to small scale industries related to food processing. He said that the Horticulture Department has to play the most important role. The Horticulture Marketing Board also needs to increase its activities.

The Chief Secretary directed the Industries Department to focus on the direction of consolidation of requirement and providing buyers for raw materials. He also talked about more focus on contract farming so that raw material can be available at one place. For this self-help groups should be encouraged more and more. This will generate employment at the local level. He also talked about solving practical problems to make the scheme successful. He said that before promoting the product, its market arrangements and farmers and other stakeholders should also be taken into confidence.

On this occasion, Secretary Dr. B.V.R.C. Purushottam, Dr. Pankaj Kumar Pandey and Additional Secretary Rohit Meena along with other officers were present.