Top priority should be accorded to the marketing to rural products. Senior officers should conduct regular field visits to monitor projects being undertaken for livelihood development. That villagers and farmers receive the benefit of the project should be ensure. The chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat issued these directions while chairing a meeting to review the Integrated Livelihood Support Project (ILSP) here on Monday.
The CM said that special focus should be laid on connecting the rural families to the market economy so that they can become capable through their livelihood. It is important for senior officers to regularly visit the field in order to ensure the success of the project on the ground. He said that flower clusters should be developed along the Yatra route. In addition to the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines, the Prasad Yojana should also be extended to other temples. Focus should also be maintained on hygiene in the making of the Prasad. Students from schools and colleges should be taken on tour to centres where good work has been done.
Officials informed in the meeting that at present the ILSP is being operated in 44 development blocks of 11 mountainous districts of the State- Almora, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Tehri, Pithoragarh, Dehradun, Rudraprayag, Pauri, Nainital and Champawat. The total cost of the project is Rs 868 crore. Of this, 63 per cent is financed by International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), 14 per cent by State Government, 19 per cent through bank finance to beneficiaries and four per cent beneficiary contribution. The major components of the project are food safety and livelihood development, participatory watershed development, livelihood finance and project management. ILSP has been recognised as a landmark project by the economic affairs department of the Government of India. Under this project, 3470 villages have been covered in 44 blocks of 11 districts. The implementation of this project has so far benefitted 1,26,000 persons. Under the project, 3291 LDPE tanks have been constructed for irrigation while crops have been protected with fencing on 1828 hectare area. Further, fodder development programme is being undertaken on 650 hectare area. A total of 150 cluster level collection centres, 599 village level small collection centres and 129 nano packaging units have been established under the ILSP. As part of the value chain, 4898 groups are involved in cultivation of unseasonal vegetables, 4590 groups are involved in dairy, 3,800 groups in making Masala, 4,290 groups in traditional grains, 1,875 groups in pulses, 3,650 groups in fruits, 1,750 in non-agriculture service sector, 798 groups in goat rearing, 367 in poultry, 290 in medicinal and aromatic plants, 89 in ecotourism and 276 in non-agricultural enterprises.
Chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, principal secretary Manisha Panwar, additional secretary Ramvilas Yadav and other officials were also present in the meeting.