Revenue and Horticulture Minister Jagat Singh Negi chaired the meeting of the Governing Council of HP Shiva Project. He directed the officials that in a penalty should imposed as per the contract in case the firms engaged in solar fencing and field preparation work fail to complete the work in time.
He asked Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar Horticulture and Forestry University, Nauni to provide high quality plants of plum and Japanese fruit (persimmon) to the farmers. He also directed to ensure the purchase of water-soluble nutrients and pesticides of branded companies through tender process besides purchase of high-tech spray kits, pumps and other equipment with the cooperation of HPMC.
The Minister said that the HP Shiva Project is implement in seven districts of the state with total outlay of 163 million dollars (Rs 1292 crore) and so far, Rs 190 crore have spent under this project. Under this project, solar fencing work is propose on 4000 hectares of land and a target has been set to complete the work on 2750 hectares of land by June 2025. So far, solar fencing work has been completed on 828 hectares of land.
Jagat Singh Negi also direct that only ‘true-to-type’ plants should given to the farmers, whose quality is test in the molecular lab located in Neri, which has also approved by the Asian Development Bank. Also, samples taken from the farmers fields are test, the report of which is made available in 7-8 days.
It inform in the meeting that the Nauni university provide 40,000 plum and persimmon plants each by February, 2026 and a total of one lakh plants by the year 2027. As many as 66 agenda items approved in the meeting.
It informed that an integrated digital platform is develop under the HP Shiva project, in which 75 types of artificial intelligence based services like plant protection, disease management, soil testing, moisture level, weather information, tracing and tracking of production, capacity building and marketing etc. made available. Also, cluster farmers also get the benefit of carbon credit generate from the gardens.
Director, Horticulture Vinay Kumar, Director, Agriculture Kumud Singh, Managing Director, HPMC Sudesh Mokhta, Special Secretary, Finance Saurabh Jasal, Director, HP Shiva Project Devendra Thakur and other senior officers were present in the meeting.
Nurturing Creativity – Keekli Charitable Trust, Shimla
