E-Paper
Punjab reclaims ₹100 cr agri sector Central funds lapsed since 2017
Punjab government has reclaimed Central funds to the tune of ₹100 crore that had lapsed during the previous years from 2017 to 2022 as the state failed to make its contribution of 40%
The Punjab government has reclaimed Central funds to the tune of ₹100 crore that had lapsed during the previous years from 2017 to 2022 as the state failed to make its contribution of 40%. The funds are under the Centre’s Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and other schemes for the agriculture and allied sectors.
The majority of these schemes are on the 60:40 ratio, with funds to be shared between the Centre and the state. The funds have been pending since 2017 when Capt Amarinder Singh assumed power and due to a lack of matching grants given by the state government during the past years these funds had lapsed.
These funds include ₹58.26 crore under sub-mission on agricultural mechanisation (SMAM), under which funds and grants are given to the farmers and farm organisations for buying machinery; ₹25.86 crore under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) which covers building infrastructure for pre and post-harvest of the crops such as inputs, storage and marketing facilities; ₹12 crore under Prampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) for promoting traditional farming such as promoting traditional crops such growing millets: ₹7.38 crore for soil health management; ₹33 lakh for national food security mission and ₹28 lakh for promoting oilseeds cultivation.
According to an officer in the state agriculture department, these schemes were launched in early 2000 with 100% grants from the Centre, but later it was made mandatory for the states to contribute 40% of funds.
“Due to a financial crunch, the state government was unable to release the state’s share and the central grants used to lapse. However, from 2022 we started claiming these funds as the present government agreed to contribute its share,” said Gurvinder Singh, director agriculture.
He adds that in the past when Punjab failed to claim these funds other states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat used to get benefitted.
“The state government has taken an in-principal decision to claim all the funds allocated by the Centre,” added a senior officer in the department.
“Next year, we are hopeful for getting at least ₹340 crore for which the finance department has been asked to arrange a matching grant. And a year after that, we have made a proposal for ₹400 crore funds allocated by the Centre, to be spent in the agriculture sector,” he informed.
