Chhattisgarh’s Agriculture Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu on Tuesday called on Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in New Delhi and sought his ministry’s intervention in the final allocation for the State under ‘Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY).
Demanding full allocation of funds under RKVY, Sahu said final allocation should be made on the basis of expenditures that include expenditure on ‘Mukhya Mantri Khadyanna Sahayata Yojana’ and PDS as has been done during the previous years (2011-12 and 2012-13). The Planning Commission in its letter had stated that expenditure on ‘Mukhya Mantri Khadyanna Sahayata Yojana’ and civil supplies cannot be booked under ‘agriculture and allied’ sector as these items relate to PDS.
Sahu informed the union minister that “non-inclusion of expenditure on ‘Mukhya Mantri Khadyanna Sahayata Yojana’ would drastically reduce allocation of funds for the state under RKVY and adversely affect agriculture and allied sectors in the state. He informed the union minister that the state government has already sent a letter to the Planning Commission requesting final allocation under RKVY. Sahu also urged the minister to take up the issue with the Planning Commission following which Pawar directed the officials concerned to call a meeting with Chhattisgarh Planning Commission Secretary and state Agriculture secretary to seek immediate solution to the matter. Sahu was accompanied with Chhattisgarh Agriculture Department Director Pratap Kridutt and Director Horticulture Bhuvanesh Yadav.