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Punjab amends RDF law, clears decks for ₹1,050 cr from Centre
The release of RDF charged by the state government on paddy crop procurement in previous kharif season was awaiting the amendment
The Punjab cabinet on Wednesday cleared the decks to get pending rural development funds accrual to the tune of ₹1,050 crore from the Centre with approval to the Punjab Rural Development (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022.
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The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting chaired by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh. The release of RDF charged by the state government on the paddy crop procurement in the previous kharif season was awaiting the amendment.
The Punjab Rural Development Act, 1987, has been amended in line with the revised principles laid down by the Union ministry of food and public distribution, in February 2020, said a state government spokesperson. With the amendment, at least ₹900 crore RDF to be charged during the current wheat crop procurement would also be released by the Centre.
It needs mention that the Centre in a communiqué sent to the state government in October 2020 had sent a provisional cost sheet in the last kharif marketing season, 2020, in which it does not account for statutory dues of RDF charged 3% of the total procurement cost. In the next kharif season of 2021, it stopped release of RDF, asking the state to amend its law and make RDF usage specific.
According to a spokesperson of the chief minister’s office, the RDF shall be spent for the construction of approach roads to mandis and procurement centres and street lights, construction of new mandis and development of old; arrangements to supply drinking water and sanitation and building rest houses, night shelters and sheds for farmers and labour engaged in procurement operations.
The RDF, as per today’s amendment, would also be spent for augmenting storage facilities in mandis to store procured stocks so as to strengthen the procurement and marketing systems in the state; to provide relief to debtridden farmers to eliminate any possibility of distress sale; development of hardware and software related to procurement and linking of land records, crop survey, bio- authentication of farmers, Installation/purchase of computerised electronic weighing facilities, quality testing equipment, sieving facilities in mandis, and its integration with e-procurement module.
