New Delhi, Union Minister of State (independent charge) for AYUSH Shripad Naik and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh on Saturday laid the foundation stone for Post Harvest Management Centre for Medicinal Plants at Bhaderwah and inaugurated 21 AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres in Jammu and Kashmir through video conferencing.Acknowledging that the centre was a long-pending demand of people of the area, Mr Yesso Naik said almost 194 AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres worth Rs 11 crore have been sanctioned for the UT in the past two years, of which, more than 50 have been made operational with the availability of latest IT equipment, medicine and doctors. Stating that the Government of India was according top priority to J&K for accelerating the pace of development, he expressed hope that with the setting up of this institute, herbal cultivation would increase in the entire Chenab valley, and new seeds would be produced and given to the farmers for herbal cultivation.The purpose of establishing the centre is to develop facilities for drying, sorting, processing, certification, packaging, and safe storage of herbal raw materials produced and collected by local people so that its quality is enhanced to fetch better price and augment the income of farmers associated.The 21 AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres inaugurated under Ayushman Bharat in Jammu & Kashmir will provide a holistic wellness model to reduce the disease burden and out-of-pocket expenditure. The main focus of AYUSH interventions would be to empower masses for “self-care” on the prevention of diseases through a healthy lifestyle, food, yoga, and medicinal plants.Dr Jitendra Singh, during his address highlighted that the centre would create employment avenue among the youth in addition to other facilities provided for the growers and collectors of medicinal plants. Further, he empathised that the AYUSH Health and Wellness Programme would not only provide services to the needy people but also promote AYUSH at the international level, an official release here said