Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday announced that free power to farmers and subsidised power to the industry will continue in the state in his government.
According to a press statement, he mentioned that benefits such as free power to farmers and subsidised power to the industry will continue, as will the 200 free units of power to Scheduled Castes (SC), Below Poverty Line (BPL), Backward Castes (BC) households, and freedom fighters in the state as his government was totally committed to the welfare of all sections of the people, with focus on the development of key sectors, including Agriculture and Industry.
There are approximately 14.23 lakh tube-wells in the State and the total subsidy borne by the State is Rs 5,733 crores for the year 2018-19, and Rs 6,060 crore for the year 2019-20, said Captain Amarinder, adding that this will benefit 14.23 lakh farmers. Besides, 1.36 lakh industries had so far received Rs. 6,010 crore in power subsidy, while 24.31 lakh domestic consumers were getting free power, he added.
The Chief Minister also mentioned 'Khushaal Kissan and Kamyab Punjab (K3P)'. "The remaining 1.13 lakh of the 5.64 lakh small and marginal farmers eligible for the state government's debt waiver scheme, would be covered within the next fiscal year. Further, the government had decided to disburse Rs 520 crores to 2.85 lakh landless farm laborers who are members of the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies," said Captain Amarinder.
Disclosing that farmers' incomes have increased through higher quantities purchased on Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the state, the Chief Minister said, "Foodgrains purchased annually were 213.5 Lakh million tones during 2007-2017, and had increased to 285 lakh million tonnes during 2017-21,".
He further disclosed that the total remuneration of farmers from government procurement of food grains has gone up to Rs 2.16 lakh crore since April 2017 - an increase of about Rs 90,668 crore over the earnings in the corresponding procurement seasons of the previous government.
Thus, the farmers' incomes through the sale of food grains have increased by more than 72 per cent ever since the government took over in March 2017, said the CM, adding that all payments to farmers were done online bringing more transparency.
( With inputs from ANI )
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