Chandigarh, July 27: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Thursday assured a sanctioning limit of Rs 4,000 crore to the state for the purpose of crop loans to farmers.
An official press release said the assurance followed a meeting between Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Chairman of NABARD Harsh Kumar Bhanwala in Mumbai. Both of them took up the issue of releasing the limit of crop loans. The Chairman also assured to reconsider the issue of increasing the limit during November-December.
Randhawa also exchanged views on issues, including prompt release of refinance limit being provided to cooperative banks of the state for the purpose of agricultural loans by NABARD. The limit is usually released in June by NABARD, but it hasn’t been released till now.
The minister also raised the issue of financial assistance given to Milkfed out of DIDF fund. The NABARD Chairman agreed to accept the demands and issued a revised sanction letter after the meeting. The sanction was given to renovation project worth Rs 318 crore of milk plants at Ludhiana, Mohali, Jalandhar and Patiala.
During the meeting, the Punjab side also highlighted the fact that out of the 3,537 societies of the state, only 2,012 had been made a part of the project so far.
Randhawa said he would direct the Cooperation Department as well as officials of cooperative institutions falling under it to coordinate with the departments concerned and constitute a team which would coordinate with NABARD to ensure that the facilities being given to farmers and the agricultural sector continued without any hindrances.
Source Tribune India
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