Srinagar: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan today chaired a meeting of officers and took review of the status of Bio-digesters in Houseboats in Dal Lake, at SKICC, Srinagar. The meeting was attended by Secretary Tourism, Sarmad Hafeez; Director Tourism, G N Itto; J&K Bank officers, Representatives of Houseboat and Shikara Associations. VC, LAWDA and CE, UEED participated virtually through Video Conference. Threadbare discussion was held regarding the installation of Bio-digesters in Houseboats to stop discharging of effluents in Lake. Also the meeting discussed various issues pertaining to department of Tourism, Floriculture and upcoming tulip festival. On the occasion, Advisor exhorted on the VC, LAWDA to install Bio-digesters in the Lake in a time bound manner. Advisor also reviewed the registration process of Houseboats and impressed on the concerned officers to complete the registration at the earliest. Advisor also interacted with representatives of the Houseboat and Shikara Association and listened to their issues. Meanwhile, Advisor also reviewed the arrangements for the celebration of Six day Tulip Festival starting from April 03. The meeting held threadbare discussion on the slew of measures put in place for the successful conduct of Tulip Festival. On the occasion, Advisor stressed for coordination between Tourism Department, SMC and related departments to put concerted measures in place for success of the Festival. Advisor directed SMC officers to conduct sanitation and cleanliness drive on daily basis to keep the garden and surrounding clean. He also directed SMC officers to install Dust Bins inside Tulip Garden and its vicinity. Moreover, Advisor issued directions for deployment of volunteers at the Tulip Garden to ensure that visitors follow Covid SOPs, wear face masks and maintain physical distance. He also directed for starting sound and lighting systems near SKICC and other places including illumination of Hari Parbat in view of Tulip Festival to be celebrated from April 03.
