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Punjab News: As part of the commitment of the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to tackle the problem of stubble blowing, cooperative banks across Punjab have launched 'Crop Residue Management Loan Scheme'.
The Chief Minister said that the main objective of the scheme is to provide easy loans to farmers to purchase machinery for proper management of crop residues to prevent environmental pollution caused by stubble burning. He said that this scheme has been started in 802 branches of State Cooperative Bank Chandigarh and District Cooperative Banks. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that farmers can avail the benefits of this scheme in a simple and easy way.
The Chief Minister said that Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PAC) and other progressive farmers of villages can avail the benefits of this scheme. He said that primary agricultural cooperative societies or other institutions can avail 80 percent subsidy on the purchase of agricultural equipment under the Common Hiring Center (CHC) scheme. Bhagwant Singh Mann said that similarly, progressive farmers will be entitled to 50 percent subsidy on purchase of agricultural equipment like balers and superseeders for crop residue management.
The Chief Minister expressed hope that this scheme will prove helpful in reducing environmental pollution caused by stubble burning. He also said that the scheme will also help in encouraging farmers to choose alternative crop residue management. Bhagwant Singh Mann reiterated the firm commitment of the State Government to ensure the welfare of farmers in every possible way and urged the farmers to avail the benefits of this scheme.
The Chief Minister said that the main emphasis is on encouraging greater participation of industry-farmers in the agro-waste supply chain to support bio-energy plants to reduce pollution caused by stubble burning. He hoped that this initiative will help avoid this pollution by diverting agricultural waste to the bio-energy industry through the biomass supply chain.
Bhagwant Singh Mann said power generation units, compressed biogas (CBG) plants, 2G ethanol factories can strengthen their supply chains based on crop residues and the move can benefit the biofuels industry as a whole.
Bhagwant Singh Mann said that the period of repayment of loan on machinery will be five years and the loan will have to be repaid in 10 half-yearly installments on 30th June and 31st January every year.
