Arunachal to get Fruit processing unit soon

Itanagar, Aug 20: Arunachal Pradesh is all set to have a fruit processing unit soon. Inaugurating a girls' hostel of the College of Horticulture and Forestry at Pasighat in East Siang district yesterday, Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu said, "a proposal in this regard has been forwarded to the Centre."

Highlighting the horticulture potentials of the state, the Chief Minister urged upon the teaching community of the college to impart scientific temper among the students so that they become assets for the state and the nation, informed official sources here today.

The Central Agriculture University, Imphal under the Department of Agriculture, Research and Education (DARE), made the first ordinance in January last year for establishment and management of the college in view of the state' s rich bio-diversity and congenial agro-climatic condition for growth of wide range of horticultural crops and forest species.

The college, which was started on March 2001 with 32 students, today boasts of having 106 students from different parts of the North Eastern states.

Dr S N Puri, Vice-Chancellor of the Central university disclosed that a 50 crore project was in the pipeline to provide infrastructure and other facilities to the students of the college.

He said the performance of the students in the past had been encouraging and a large number of them had already enrolled themselves in post-graduate programme in several premier institutions of the country.

UNI