Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Atomic Energy and Space, Mr. Jitendra Singh, while attending a programme on Lavender Awareness mentioned that Basohli in Kathua district of J&K is to be developed as Heritage Town and Aroma Start-up destination in the coming years.
According to him, Basohli was always neglected by the previous governments, thus the development deficit is still seen in this Kandi area. Reiterating the vision of Prime Minister of India to create a Viksit Bharat & Viksit Jammu and Kashmir, he said that henceforth, the government should be focused on the Poor, Farmers, Youth and Nari Shakti which have been empowered through various government schemes.
Aroma Mission has been started by the neighbouring states like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. The minister said that as this constituency has been the birthplace of Purple Revolution in India, Basohli must not shy away from starting lavender cultivation as this can increase the income of agriculturists.
He further said that in terms of road and highway development, J&K’s first inter-State bridge at Keerian-Gandyal has been the cornerstone of development, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the highest priority to Shahpur-Kandi project as it is the lifeline of this area in many ways and has the potential to irrigate 4000-acre agricultural land.