Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Maurya inaugurated the two-day Vasantotsav Spring Festival at Raj Bhawan on Saturday. She inaugurated the festival by unveiling a special postal cover of Asian Honey Bee (Apis cerana) and subsequently cutting a cake prepared with edible flowers. The main attractions of the festival are different varieties of flowers, cactus, succulents, hanging pots and Bonsai. More than 150 varieties of flowers are displayed in the flower exhibition under the categories of cut flowers, flowers in potted plants and edible flowers.
Besides this, Uttarakhand horticulture board, Uttarakhand sericulture directorate, Herbal Research and Development Institute (HRDA) and Uttarakhand horticulture and food processing department also participated in the festival. Locally produced products in the stalls including mushrooms and products prepared from it besides the delicacies prepared from local organic produce are also among the attractions of the festival. A total of 171 stalls have been set up in the festival by various private organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Moreover, a total of 1,316 contestants are participating in various contests organised under 11 categories that prominently include school children painting contest, hanging pots contest, on the spot photography contest and cactus and succulent contest.
Selected bakery products from each district under the One District One Product (ODOP) programme are also a part of the event in which many used edible flowers for flavours. Talking about Vasantotsav, the governor said that this festival aims to promote environmental conservation besides promoting floriculture in the State. Edible flowers were specially included this year in the flower exhibition to convey to locals that flowers can also be used to prepare edible products, said Maurya. She further added that the whole festival is being kept plastic-free and appealed to the people to maintain physical distancing in the premises of the Raj Bhawan while enjoying the festival.
Sunday, 14 March 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
