North India's first Industrial Biotech Park inaugurated at Kathua in J&K

Srinagar, May 29 (IANS) Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha and Union minister Jitendra Singh on Saturday inaugurated the north India's first Industrial Biotech Park constructed at Ghatti near Kathua.On the occasion, the Lt Governor said that the Industrial Biotech Park at Kathua will transform the economy and enable scientists to tackle challenges of climate change. The enabling infrastructure will fuel new wave of innovation and impact various sectors, from health and agriculture to cosmetics and materials, he added.The Lt Governor observed that new Industrial Biotech Park at Kathua will provide Startups, Young Entrepreneurs and SMEs the tools that can make production cheaper, manageable and environmentally sustainable. Together with advances in data analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, the biotech park will accelerate change, he said.It will be vital futuristic asset of agri-horticulture entrepreneurs, startups, researchers, youth entrepreneurs and scientists of the region, he added.With new biotech capabilities and innovation, J&K, bestowed with more than 3500 medicinal plant species, will be able to harness market advantages in the most effective way and help the farmers to generate more income, asserted the Lt Governor.Sinha further said that under the leadership of Prime Minister, the new Industrial Development Scheme has enabled J&K to fetch investment of more than Rs 38,800 crore as on dates, which also includes proposals of 338 industrial units associated with the biotech sector in some way or the other.The establishment of organic based and pharmaceutical companies will definitely be successful in linking the abundant natural wealth neglected for decades with the industry, he added.The Lt Governor said that another Biotech Park at Handwara, Kupwara is under construction and the park will cost Rs. 84.66 Crore, shared between Department of Biotechnology, GoI and Science and Technology Department of the UT government.Meanwhile, Union minister Jitendra Singh said that the Biotech Park would act as hub for incubation of new ideas and will act as a robust platform to support the agri-entrepreneurs, startups, progressive farmers, scientists, scholars and students not only from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh but also from nearby states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.He said that the biotechnology park at Kathua has a potential to produce 25 startups in a year which will be among its great contributions to this region.
--IANS zi/shs

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