Flowers to greet tourists along Lakhanpur-Srinagar highway

Floriculture Dept to develop parks
Flowers to greet tourists along Lakhanpur-Srinagar highway
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 29
To make the road journey more enjoyable for tourists coming to Jammu and kashmir, the Floriculture Department has decided to develop parks and green strips along the Lakhanpur-Srinagar National Highway.

The Minister for Floriculture, Sham Lal Sharma, today, while inaugurating a park at Batehra near Akhnoor on the Jammu-Poonch Highway announced that the state government would develop a number of big and lush green parks along the national highway, right from Lakhanpur to Srinagar.

“The innovative plan will be carried out by the Department of Floriculture, just to attract a maximum number of tourists to the state,” said Sham Lal Sharma.

He further said these parks would be developed along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and would also encourage the farmers to divert towards floriculture.

“The department will also create an earning source for floriculturists, besides beautifying the pathways along the national highway,” he added.

According to senior officials of the department, a similar project had been submitted to the higher-ups for their approval, to deck the sidetracks with flowers along the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway.

They added that the road beautification project would also make the national highway a tourist attraction and boost the local economy.

The farmers in the Jammu region usually cultivate maize, wheat, paddy, vegetables and fodder, but in the recent years under the crop diversification programme, the government has encouraged them to cultivate flowers.

In its effort to attract farmers towards crop diversification, the Floriculture Department has already announced a number of incentives, including marketing facility to floriculturists at their doorsteps.

At present about 300 hectares of land in the state is under cultivation of different varieties of flowers, particularly marigold, jasmine, aster, rose, chrysanthemum and tuberose, giving employment to large number of people.

Courtesy: The Tribune