Give ₹2,000-cr incentive, Capt urges Centre
NEWDELHI: The state government on Tuesday sought ₹2,000 crore from the Centre for farmers to enable them to remove paddy straw without burning it.
The demand was raised by chief minister (CM) Captain Amarinder Singh at a meeting with Union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh.
“We have nearly 20 million tonnes of paddy straw. Who will use it? We have demanded that the Centre should give ₹100 per quintal, which comes to roughly ₹2,000 crore,” the CM said.
He added that since the central government fixes the minimum support price of paddy, it is its responsibility to address the issue of paddy straw.
“The Union agriculture minister has assured that he will look into the matter. A final call will be taken after central agriculture and environment ministries make a recommendation in this regard,” the CM said.
On farmers’ debt waiver, the CM said the state has asked the Centre to increase its borrowing capacity so that it can waive the farm debt of 10.25 lakh farmers.
The issue was discussed with Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday. In the meeting, he said, “We have not asked any funds from the Centre. We are asking them to allow us to increase our borrowing percentage, which at present is 3% and we want it to be 4.5%. This will give us additional ₹9,500 crore to meet this requirement.”
Besides, the state government has asked the Centre to provide deficiency support price for maize and sunflower. The Punjab CM said a National Post Graduate Horticulture Education and Research Institute will come up in Amritsar, for which the state has allocated land.