Chandigarh, February 18: With the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in mind, the Congress government has allocated Rs 3,000 crore to waive loans of landless farm labourers during 2019-20, while increasing the allocation of free power to the agriculture sector to Rs 8,969 crore.
Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said under the farm loan waiver scheme, crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh of marginal and small farmers had been waived by the government. “So far, 5.83 lakh marginal and small farmers across the state have been provided a total relief worth Rs 4,736 crore. Waiver for landless farm labourers will be given in the next phase of implementation of this scheme,” he said.
Though short of expectation, the government allocated Rs 355 crore to provide support to the sugarcane growers during 2019-20.
To promote the drive for crop residue management, Rs 375 crore has been allocated. The government will set up new demonstrating units for utilisation of straw for manufacturing briquettes.
Other initiatives include potato seed village scheme under which Rs 2 crore will be given to support potato seed farmers. Another Rs 19.67 crore will be spent on an integrated facility for fruits and vegetables to be set up by Punjab Agri Export Corporation Limited in Abohar.
The state has announced to add 100 ordinary buses in the roadways’ fleet. To digitise consumer interface, it has announced to transact services through Sewa Kendras and construct bus stands at Sirhind, Patiala and Bathinda.
