Uttarakhand: A state-level monitoring committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. The Chief Secretary said that medicinal herbs are Uttarakhand’s unique selling proposition (USP)
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A meeting of the State Level Monitoring Committee under the Forest Department’s “Development of Non-Timber Forest Produce and Herbal and Aroma Tourism Project” was held at the Secretariat on Wednesday, chaired by Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan. During the meeting, the Chief Secretary reviewed the progress of the project in detail. He instructed the Forest Department to constitute a Project Management Committee (PMC) for this purpose immediately.
The Chief Secretary stated that medicinal herbs are Uttarakhand’s unique selling proposition (USP). He emphasized the need to integrate medicinal herbs into the state’s economy. He directed the Agriculture, Horticulture, and Forest Departments to prepare an action plan for the production and marketing of medicinal herbs in coordination with each other. He also said that the budget is currently being prepared, and if necessary, provisions for this will be included.
The Chief Secretary suggested developing herbal nurseries into herbal and aroma parks and linking them to tourism activities. He directed that immediate action be taken to expand the nurseries at Devban, Khirsu, Jageshwar, Selakui, Munsiyari, and other locations and develop them into herbal-aroma parks. He also instructed that a nursery plan be prepared soon.
The Chief Secretary also directed the formation of a core group for the development of medicinal herbs. He said that this core group should include the Agriculture Department, Horticulture Department, Herbal Development and Research Institute, Aromatic Plants Centre, Forest Department, and Forest Corporation. He said that all these departments are working separately in the field of medicinal herbs, and now they need to work in coordination with each other.
The Chief Secretary stated that under the Development of Non-Timber Forest Produce and Herbal and Aroma Tourism Project, 10,000 farmers are to be trained. He directed that a training module be prepared soon. He instructed that the Aromatic Plants Centre be developed as the nodal agency for training.
The Chief Secretary said that to make the scheme successful, district-level monitoring committees should be formed and regular monitoring meetings should be held. He said that special attention needs to be paid to the marketing of medicinal herbs, in addition to their production. He instructed the departments to focus on producing according to the requirements of Ayurvedic pharmaceutical companies and other buyers.
Present on the occasion were Principal Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu, Secretary Dr. Pankaj Kumar Pandey, PCCF (HoFF) Ranjan Kumar Mishra, PCCF (Forest Panchayat) V.P. Gupta, Additional Secretaries Vijay Kumar Jogdande and Himanshu Khurana, and other senior officers.
