STATE TIMES NEWS
Bhadarwah: The construction work on the ‘Institute of High Altitude Medicinal Plants’ (IHAMP) first of it’s kind in Jammu and Kashmir, to be built at a project cost of Rs 100 crore, took off at Chabbra – Kotli in additional district Bhadarwah. Much anticipated and ambitious project, the foundation stone of which was laid by MoS, PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh and Shripad Yesso Naik, MoS, AYUSH Ministry on December 15, 2018, is primarily aimed at to give a boost to the income of hundreds of local farmers by encouraging them to grow rare medicinal plants and herbs beside providing them a market to sell their produce and establishing an international research centre.
According to reports, for the 100 crore IHAMP project, first of its kind in Jammu and Kashmir, 100 kanals of land at two sites, 45 kanals at Chabbra-Kotli and 55 kanals at Thanthera meadow has been acquired by AYUSH ministry for establishing regional collection centre and research institute simultaneously.
The institute will be a pioneer in research about rare medicinal plants found at high altitude and will provide research in medicinal plants and promote their cultivation. Besides, the institute will also provide employment and promote medicinal plant in foreign market.
Vinod Kumar Sharma Executive Engineer R&B Bhadarwah said that we have started the work on construction site at Chabbra with a target to complete it in 18 months. In the first phase, construction of District Collection Centre, which includes 9 sub components viz administrative block, auction platform, storage godowns, canteen, health care centre etc, at a cost of Rs 2 crore has been taken up.
Dr Iftkhar Malik, Nodal Officer of the project, Ministry of AYUSH said that with the close supervision of MoS, PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh and with keen interest of AYUSH Director Mohan and DDC Doda Dr Sagar Dattaray Doifode, the construction of this prestigious project has been started. “It is expected that the project would also become a major source of income for the farmers in cultivation of medicinal plants. The estimated cost of the entire project is Rs. 100 crore that is to be established in the lush green Bhadarwah valley and the deadline for its completion is 2 years.”