Himachal Government has decided to launch a new project, Rajiv Gandhi Micro-Irrigation Scheme with an outlay of Rs154 crore over a period of four years. A spokesman of the State Government on Sunday said that the Government was committed to promote agriculture in a big way by increasing productivity of crops by providing effective system of irrigation to the agriculturists for increasing production.
He said that under the proposed Rajiv Gandhi Micro-Irrigation Project, 8,500 hectare area would be brought under drip or sprinkler irrigation system which would benefit more than 14,000 farmers in the state. The farmers would get a subsidy of Rs113 crore during the project period, he added. The spokesman said that the State Government has also implementing Dr YS Parmar Kisan Swarojgar Yojana in the state, under which 85 percent subsidy was being provided to the farmers to set up poly-houses.
He said that a budgetary provision of Rs300 crore had been made for this scheme to cover additional two lakh square meter area under poly-houses in this financial year. This would provide employment to about five thousand unemployed persons engaged in agriculture in the State, he added. He said that the State Government has decided to extend this scheme for construction of high-tech poly-house having temperature control facility with separate subsidy for such equipment.
With the concerted efforts and policies of the State Government, the production of off season vegetables had crossed 14 lakh tones generating income of about Rs2,500 crore. The State Government had made a provision of Rs60 crore for further promotion of off season vegetables in this fiscal year. He said that efforts were also made for the improvement of soil health services in the State, for which the zone wise soil fertility maps would be made available online so that the farmers could get first hand information about the health of their soils.
He said that during this financial year, one lakh farmers would be provided soil heath cards, besides three new mobile soil testing laboratories would be established in the State to provide services in interior and far-flung areas. The spokesman said that the State Government had also decided to launch a new scheme Mukhyamantri Kisan Evam Khetihar Mazdoor Jeevan Suraksha Yojana in the state with a view to provide insurance cover to the farmers and agricultural laborers in the event of sustaining injury or death due to operation of farm machinery. He added that in case of death and permanent disability, the Government would provide compensation of Rs1.5 lakh and in case of partial disability, compensation up to Rs50,000 would be provided to the affected farmers.