Srinagar most unorganised city with no land use policy: VC SKUAST-K

Srinagar, Nov 17: The Vice Chancellor of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST)-Kashmir, Dr Nazir Ganai on Monday said that Srinagar was the most unorganised city in the country with no land use policy in place.

The Vice Chancellor said this while responding to a query on the agricultural land getting squeezed due to the boom of constructions.

The VC SKUAST-K was briefing the media persons during a formal interaction arranged to showcase growth, innovation, and vision for the future of the varsity.

The VC SKUAST-K said it was a matter of concern that the productive land was getting converted into a residential area. "It is a challenge for us but we have adopted advanced methods and our production has doubled as compared to other states," he said.

He said, "if one hectare of agricultural land produces five tons in other areas, the production in our land is 10 times more."

He, however, said that Srinagar was the most unorganised city due to the haphazard construction that has taken place since the 1990s.

"It is very unfortunate that the most productive land is being utilised for setting up concrete structures. But we have submitted a proposal to the government in this regard so that we can arrest the trend of constructions in agricultural land," Dr Ganai said.

He said that due to the prevailing situation in the 1990s, the government never got a chance to develop Srinagar in a planned manner.

"The city and other towns witnessed horizontal expansion due to which the agricultural land, which was meant for productive purposes, was used for construction," he said.

He said the impact of haphazard expansion was mostly on the Agriculture sector.

"But despite the non-availability of land, we are trying to increase the production while maintaining the quality," he said.

He said the productivity of one hectare of land was only one ton, which has increased to 10 to 12 tons per hectare.

"In Punjab, one hectare of land produces five tons of ric,e and ours is 10 tons. The country-level average production is 3 tons per hectare, and we are three times ahead of the national average," VC SKUAST-K said.

He said in the case of orchards, the average produce per hectare is 10 tons, but in Kashmir, it is about 40 to 60 tons.

The Vice Chancellor further briefed about the achievements made in research, academic excellence, start-up ecosystem development, and outreach initiatives of the varsity.

The interaction was titled- An Autumn Afternoon at SKUAST-K Chrysanthemum garden.

The VC SKUAST-K said they have been celebrating the autumn season for the last two months, and their endeavor is to promote it further so that Kashmir witnesses a boom in the autumn tourism season.

"As the Tulip garden remains the main attraction in the spring season, we want to convey to people that autumn is equally beautiful and they can visit the Chrysanthemum garden," he said.