PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
In an attempt to encourage the silk growers, the Uttarakhand government has decided to increase the minimum support price (MSP) of silk cocoons. A decision in this regard was taken in the meeting of the State cabinet held at the secretariat on Wednesday.
The cabinet headed by chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami endorsed the proposal to increase the MSP of ‘A’ grade cocoon from Rs 400 per kg to Rs 440 per kg. The MSP of ‘B’ grade cocoon has been hiked from Rs 370 to Rs 395 per kg while the MSP of ‘C’ and ‘D’ grade cocoon will be Rs 290 and Rs 240 per kg respectively
Agriculture minister Ganesh Joshi said that the quality of silk produced in Uttarakhand is of good quality. He claimed that the demand of Sarees made from the silk produced by cocoons of Uttarakhand is increasing. The minister added that in the Silk Expos in different parts of the country the turnover of the clothes made from silk of Uttarakhand is increasing. He said that the government is working to provide cocoon seeds in time.
It is pertinent to mention here that bivoltine silk cocoon is an important silk crop and in recent years the silk production in the State has increased.
The State is currently producing 312 metric tonnes of silk cocoon every year and Dehradun, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar are major silk producing districts.
In the cabinet meeting the disaster management department presented an account of the works done by it to the minister and chief minister.
The department officials informed the ministers about the budget allotted under the SDRF and State sector and preparations for Monsoon, Char Dham Yatra, broadcast of the weather alerts and messages, quick response teams, mock drills, Bhoodev App and Apada Sakhi Yojana.
