DCO Hyderabad Aftab Ahmed Khatri has informed that the provincial government was planning to provide 1,000 tractors to the growers of the province on subsidised rates to boost the agricultural economy and raise the living standard of the growing community.
He said this while presiding over a meeting to consult with growers' organisations about implementation on the scheme held at his office on Thursday. The DCO said that during Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah's visit to Hyderabad on March 25 and 26 issued instructions for preparing feasibility report for providing tractors to growers on subsidy rates consequently Directorate of Agriculture Engineering Hyderabad was assigned to complete this job.
He said that the management of Agriculture Engineering Hyderabad has conceived the scheme and submitted to the Provincial government under which 1,000 tractors would be made available at the cost of Rs 200 million in two years and each district of the province to get 48 tractors. He said that according to the proposed plan, Rs 0.2 million would be provided by government as subsidy on each tractor, while remaining amount would be born by the concerned grower. He said that this scheme has been prepared for two years period from 2010 to 2011 and 2011 to 2012 and its proceedings will start from July 2009.
He said that this plan has been included in the agenda of the meeting of PDWP which was held yesterday (Thursday) in Karachi. He said that the purpose of this meeting was to get feedback and recommendations from growers organisation by which District Government Hyderabad has also proposed District level committee headed by Agriculture Engineer with District Officer Agriculture Extension, D.D.O. Revenue and Assistant Agriculture Engineer as members.