The Haryana Government will set up a mega food project at IMT Rohtak, for which a grant amounting to Rs 50 crore has been received from the Central Government.
“This project would provide employment opportunities to about 1,500 youth,” said Haryana Minister of State for Cooperation, Manish Kumar Grover while talking to the mediapersons here on Monday.
He said that the State Government has also decided to further increase the capacity of all sugar mills in the State at a cost of about Rs 1,100 crore.
The capacity of Sonepat sugar mill would be increased from 1,600 ton crushing per day (TCD) to 2,200 TCD, of Panipat sugar mill to 5,000 TCD, Karnal sugar mill to 3,500 TCD, and Hafed to 3,300 TCD, Grover said.
“It is for the first time in the history of Haryana that all sugar mills have crushed about 500 lakh quintals of sugarcane this year while these had crushed 369 lakh quintals last year. last week, Rs 200 crore was paid to the sugarcane growers and the pending dues of Rs 110 crore would be released soon,” he added.
Referring to the purchase of mustard in the state, the Minister said Hafed had purchased 2.75 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of mustard from Nafed during the current fiscal. Besides, it also purchased 36,940 MT of mustard to extract oil from it. No previous Government in Haryana ever purchased mustard, he said.
Spelling out the achievements of his department in last over three years, Grover said that dairy cooperative societies purchased an average of 5.62 lakh litres of milk per day in 2017-18. It was 4.3 lakh litres per day in 2013-14, 4.9 lakh litres per day in 2014-15, 4.5 lakh litres per day in 2015-16 and 4.51 lakh litres per day in 2016-17, he added.
Under the Swarna Jayanti Bal Dugdh Yojana, sweet flavoured milk powder is being supplied to the Elementary Education Department. 200 ml milk is given to 15.22 lakh children three days a week. So far, 607.94 lakh litres of milk has been supplied, he said.
Grover further said that insurance scheme of Rs 5 lakh per person had been implemented for 50,000 milk producers in the state from March 1, 2015. The insurance companies have so far settled 22 insurance claims under this scheme.
When asked to comment on the losses of cooperative banks, the Minister said persons associated with different political parties had taken loans. Various irregularities have come to light into which a departmental inquiry is being conducted, he added.
“The net profit of banks has reached Rs 35.65 crore. Out of the 19 Central Cooperative Banks, 11 have earned profit. The cooperative societies have 12.37 lakh Kisan Credit Card holders and Kisan Credit Cards have been issued to 6.95 lakh farmers with good transaction record and credit cards of 2.65 lakh farmers have been activated by the Central Cooperative Banks,” he said.
The Minister said that as a result of the new conditions implemented for panchayat elections, the cooperative banks had recovered outstanding dues of Rs 158.53 crore. The central cooperative banks have so far opened and uploaded 3.58 lakh bank accounts related to old age pension, he said.
About 5 lakh farmers, who repaid loan on time, have been provided relief of Rs 202 crore under the scheme which has been extended till February 28, 2020. Under this scheme, the Central Government provides interest relief of three per cent whereas the State Government provides interest relief of four per cent. The effective rate of interest is zero per cent for farmers who repay their loans on time, he added.