Friday, July 21, 2017

Haryana to set up Vegetable Price Stability Fund

CHANDIGARH, JULY 21
The Haryana Government will soon set up a Vegetable Price Stability Fund in the state to address seasonal fluctuations in the prices of key perishable and non-perishable vegetable produce.
           This was disclosed by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Lal, while addressing a press conference on the occasion of successful completion of 1,000 days of the present state government. here today.
          As perishable vegetables like potato and tomato cannot be stored for long and the farmers have no solution to this problem, it has been decided to set up a separate Vegetable Price Stability Fund to provide assistance to the farmers in the event of price fluctuations, Mr Manhoar Lal said.
          Referring to the lift irrigation system in southern Haryana which had not been repaired for the last 35 years, he said the present government had prepared a Rs 143-crore scheme to strengthen the lift irrigation system and work on the first phase has already been completed.  The government is committed to ensuring water to  every tail-end in the state for irrigation through the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal, he added.
          He said the Swaminathan Report should have been implemented in 2006. A committee comprising Chief Ministers of different states had been constituted under the Chairmanship of the former Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Though Mr Hooda submitted the report but he failed to get it implemented. Now, the present state government has taken the task of  implementing the recommendations of the Swaminathan Report in a phased manner
          The Chief Minister said farmers in the state were being given a compensation of Rs 12,000 per acre in case of crop loss due to natural calamity. Apart from this, 54 out of 102 mandis of market committees in the state have been made online. Also, farmers are getting crop loan at zero per cent interest rate.
The state government has distributed compensation to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore for crop losses due to natural calamities. This amount is in addition to Rs 350 crore left unpaid by the previous government.
        The Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, has the vision to double the income of farmers by  2022. With a view to ensuring profitable income to the farmers, they are being encouraged to adopt horticulture instead of traditional farming. Apart from this, farmers are also being encouraged to adopt other agri-related activities like bee keeping, dairy and fish farming to increase their income.
      The Chief Minister said the state government was also implementing Peri-urban concept of farming which aimed at increasing the reach of farmers  in the Delhi and NCR markets. They could tap the four crore population of the NCR region by fulfilling their need of daily use like milk, fruits and vegetables and thus increase their income substantially, he added.
Taking a dig at the previous government in the state for not making provision of adequate stock of fertilizers for the next season before bowing out, Mr Manohar Lal said earlier the farmers had to stand in long queues to get the supply of fertilizers. But today, the farmers are getting neem coated urea in adequate quantity conveniently. Stock of urea for the next six months is available with the state government, the Chief Minister said.
          Haryana has become the first state in the country to implement online Public Distribution System (PDS). There are about 14,000 fair price shops in the state and the consumers are getting ration through biometric machines installed at these shops. Under this system, the consumer could get supply of ration anywhere in the state. As many as 1.3 lakh consumers have so far  benefitted from this system .
        Similarly, Haryana is the first state in the country which is free from kerosene. Every household in the state has been provided gas connection, the Chief Minister added. 
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