Govt joins hands with state's oldest nursery to boost flower sale

Kolkata: In a unique initiative, the State Food Processing and Horticulture Development Corporation has joined hands with Globe Nursery – the oldest nursery in the state for sale of variety of roses and other flowers such as lilium, carnation, gladiolus on Valentine's Day. The flowers will be sold in mobile vans in five strategic locations in the city at a price that will be much lower than the market price.

"Our main aim is to ensure that farmers associated with the cultivation of rose get their value for their hard work. The demand for flowers particularly roses picks up on the occasion of Valentines Day. We want to ensure that farmers associated with flower cultivation have enough reasons to smile, " a senior official of the state Horticulture department said.

The five locations that have been selected for the sale of the flowers are Salt Lake City Centre I and II, College Street, South City Mall and Mayukh Bhavan in Saltlake. The initiative will be officially flagged-off by state Food Processing Industries and Horticulture minister Abdur Ra zzak Molla from Mayukh Bhavan. The mobile vans will also move in and around their locations for selling of flowers. The mobile vans will be in action from 11 am till 8 pm. The local variety of rose has been procured from of East Midnapore and North 24-Parganas where roses grow in abundance. "The mobile outlets will also have a good collection of Dutch Rose in five colours —pink, yellow, white, orange and red. These roses imported from Bangalore will be priced slightly higher than the native variety," the official said. The flowers will also be sold in flower pots, hanging baskets and in various other decorative ways. It is learnt that the department has already taken the nod of Kolkata Police as all the locations in the city where the mobile vans will be placed are busy locations.