"Squirrel" state animal, "Kuyil" state bird: Minister

Puducherry, Apr 16 (UNI) Puducherry Agriculture Minister V Vaithilingam today announced ''Squirrel'' as the state animal of the Union Territory.

Concluding the three-day discussion on demand for various departments, including agriculture and forest in the Assembly here, Mr Vaithilingam announced ''Kuyil'' (Nightingale) as the state bird, Vilvam (medicinal plant) as the state tree and Nagalingam flower as the state flower.

He also said apart from encouraging Bamboo cultivation here, the administration under social forestry scheme would take steps to plant 15.5 lakh Casuarina saplings in Puducherry and Karaikal regions in 50 hectares and 25 hectares respectively.

The administration in a bid to provide the minimum support price to the farmers had procured over 5000 tonnes of paddy through the FCI, PAPSCO, Pasic and other regulatory markets.

It had cleared all dues to the cane growers and had already paid paddy subsidy to the tune of Rs 5.5 crore to the farmers.

Mr Vaithilingam said the Puducherry Agro-Service and Industries Corporation would soon bring out two herbal mineral water.

He said the administration would introduce a scheme to provide financial assistance to the farmers.

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