JAMMU — In an effort to ensure cultivation of available land near the International Border with Pakistan, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities on Tuesday held a meeting with security agencies that focused on productive use of the patches to add to the local food basket.
The meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, was attended by Shailendra Kumar, principal secretary in the agriculture production department; Chandraker Bharti, principal secretary in the home department; the Border Security Force’s (BSF) Jammu frontier Inspector General Shashank Anand; and deputy commissioners of the border districts of Kathua, Jammu, Samba, Poonch and Rajouri, among others, an official said.
The meeting was called to discuss different measures to help farmers take up for cultivation the land patches between the fence and the International Border on the Indian side, he said.
The chief secretary emphasised on joint efforts by the agriculture department, and district administrations and security forces concerned to encourage farmers to cultivate all the arable land.
“We need to give all possible assistance to these farmers so that such fallow lands come into production from the next sowing season. Irrespective of the status of the land patches, these should be put to productive use to add to our local food basket,” Dulloo said.
He said the department should facilitate the farmers owning the land patches, besides the security forces assuring their security.
Dulloo further directed senior agriculture department officers to visit these districts to take cognisance of the issues and resolve them on the spot, in consultation with the local administration and the security forces.
Kumar, the agriculture department principal secretary, said his department was ready to provide the necessary handholding to farmers for cultivating these land patches.
He advised the deputy commissioners to do the prior groundwork so that the obstacles could be ironed out on the day of inspection.
The BSF’s Anand flagged some demands of locals for successful cultivation of the land patches, besides assuring full cooperation on part of the forces. — (PTI)