Creation of Shrine Board’s Nursery;
1.1 The Chairman, SMVDSB, desired at the 52nd Board Meeting held on 10.09.2013 that activities towards the plantation of indigenous species and securing extensive green cover need to be intensified. He directed Forest Wing to create a well advised plan for Soil and Water Conservation which, apart from improving the moisture would assist in strengthening the gre
en cover and preventing spread of Forest Fires.
1.2 In lieu with the directions of Hon’ble Chairman, to focus on plantation of indigenous species in the Shrine area, procurement of plants from Departmental Nurseries and Private Vendors, supplying Quality Planting Material, was emphasized with main focus on indigenous varieties. In doing so, a total expenditure of Rs.196.90 lacs was incurred during the procurement of 11.45 lacs seedlings since the year 2006.
1.3 The plants supplied by these outside agencies, are, by far limited to few genera and as a result re-stocking was carried out only with the limited varieties in the greening works. Therefore, a proposal was mooted to create Shrine Board’s own Nursery with the main mandate of mass production of indigenous plants and as well as Rare, Endangered and Threatened plants of Trikuta Hills.
1.4 During Nov. 2012, a preliminary reconnaissance survey was conducted in Shrine area to select suitable site having flat surface with adequate supply of water for irrigation. The piece of Shrine Board’s land located in Kunia Devi Pindi was selected on account of round-the-clock availability of water; however, the piece of land being an irregular, degraded chunk, the technical advice of Civil Wing of SMVDSB was sought.
1.5 In the meanwhile, the demarcation exercise of the proposed piece of land for fencing was commenced during Dec. 2012 and the entire stretch of land was secured during Jan. 2013, after eviction of encroachment of 3 Kanals of Shrine Board’s land. After securing technical opinion of the Civil Wing of SMVDSB, the site clearance and land leveling works was commenced during March 2013.
1.6 During the initial phase of leveling and reclamation, nearly 5000 sqm area of terraces was created for creation of necessary infrastructure such as Mist Chamber, Poly Green House and Water Storage Tanks. In addition to the above, another 10,000 sqm area was reclaimed for creation of additional facilities by the end of Sept. 2013. During the course of leveling and terrace formation, retaining wall to a length of 577.16 mtrs. To provide staying facility to the Supervisors and to store the construction material, one store cm office was constructed.
1.7 The fencing around the entire periphery of Nursery area has been completed and installation of one Gate in the main entrance has been completed.
1.8 In order to create 01 Mist Chamber (22mx7m) and 02 Poly Green House structures (16mx7m), Notice Inviting Tenders for the work titled “Design, Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning and Five (05) years Maintenance of 03 Unit of Mist Chamber/Poly Green House at Kunia- Panthal, Katra of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board” was issued vide no.: CO/Dev/F/427/2364 dated 28.01.2014. After evaluating the bids received against the NIT, the work was awarded in favour of M/s Rajdeep Agri Products Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi vide no.: CO/F/TH-156/2976-81 dated 28.03.2014.
1.9 In addition to this, to create Naturally Ventilated Poly Green House (50mx12m), a separate NIT was issued vide no.: CO/Dev/F/427/2364 dated 28.01.2014. The Bids received against the NIT were duly evaluated following the norms governing such issues. After following all the codal formalities, the work was awarded in favour of M/s Rajdeep Agri Products Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi vide no.: CO/Dev/F/427/92-99 dated 22.04.2014. In lieu with the Terms and Conditions of the LOA, the Supplier has duly completed the construction of 01 Mist Chamber, 02 Poly Green House and 01 Naturally Ventilated Poly Green House on 22.07.2014 and on the same date the Unit was tested for its working as per the LOA and found to be satisfactory.
1.10 In order to provide assured supply of water to the Poly Green House plant production, two water tanks having 50,000 ltrs. capacity and one water tank having 40,000 ltrs. capacity was constructed with piping and pumping systems to cover water requirement for all the Units. To protect the aquifer flowing inside the nursery area, a bowli is under construction.
1.11 The inner floor of Mist Chamber and Naturally Ventilated Poly Green House were furnished with pre-cast interlocking cement tiles. A fair weather link road of 400 mtrs. length was constructed and black topping will be done during the month of May 2015.
1.12 In addition to this, Multifunctional Nursery Building (G+1) having storage cm residential facility for staff is under construction. The work pertains to laying of foundation, pillars, slabs and brickwork for the ground floor has been completed and slab work for the first floor is under progress.
1.13 To provide for the disposal of bio-manure generated from 4 tonnes/day Mule dung based Bio-gas Plant of Shrine Board, 9 tonnes capacity Vermi-Compost Unit was constructed and put to operation in the month of May 2014. The Vermi-compost generated from this Unit is being used for production of plants in the Nursery.
1.14 To ensure adequate supply of power to run all the Units and other facilities, a transformer unit having a capacity of 100 KVA was installed and electric line connecting all the Units of Nursery Complex has been established.
1.15 To improvise the plant production through Root Trainers with media (Coco peat, Perilite and Vermiculite) technique, 1.2 lacs of 150 cc single cell root trainers, 2.5 lacs of 300 cc single cell root trainers with trays and 6 metric tonnes of Coco peat, 3 metric tonnes of Perilite and Vermiculite were procured.
1.16 Filling of 300 cc root trainers with media has been completed for 82,250 cells and 38,250 cells are planted with cuttings of Ficus sp., Qurcus sp., Morus alba, Willow, Malotus phillipinesis, Grewia sp., Populus, Zizhypus sp.; filling of 30,350 no. of 150 cc root trainers with media has been completed and will be used for plant production at the earliest.
1.17 Production of 1.5 lacs nos. of poly bag based seedling was commenced from the month of March 2013; nearly 34000 seedlings produced from the Nursery have been utilized in the Winter Planting Programme. For the current production season, 3.00 lacs poly bagged raised seedlings will be raised in addition to the 2.00 lacs root trainer based seedlings.
1.18 The total expenditure incurred on account of creation of Nursery on various components, is Rs.199.63 lacs.
1.19 The above stated position is for the information of the Board.
