A regional research station of the ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute (ICAR-CAZRI) was inaugurated virtually at Leh on December 21.

The inauguration was done by Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and junior ministers Parsottambhai Rupala and Kailash Choudhary.

Also present were Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) secretary Sanjay Singh; Dr Trilochan Mahapatra, the secretary of the Department of Agriculture Research and Education and director-general of ICAR; Dr S.K. Choudhary, deputy director-general (NRM) of ICAR; Dr O.P. Yadav, director, ICAR-CAZRI, Jodhpur; and Dr Dipankar Saha, head, RRS-Leh.

Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, the Ladakh MP, attended the event.

The ICAR regional hub will “address the multiplicity of mountain ecosystems in a holistic manner, eyeing through natural resources and its management for the sustainable development of Ladakh region and its people and environment”, according to a media note.