LAHORE: “The Bank of Punjab (BOP) after scrutiny has approved 280,000 applications of farmers to obtain “Chief Minister’s Kissan Card” which will enable them to buy inputs for their crops. The Punjab Agriculture Department had registered 800,000 farmers across the province for this scheme”.
This was disclosed by the Minister for Agriculture and Livestock, Punjab Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani while presiding over a meeting about the timelines and progress of the Chief Minister Punjab Kissan Card and Green Tractor Scheme at Agriculture House, Lahore today.
The minister said special teams have been formed for manual verification of applicants residing at non-computerized locations to resolve the difficulties they are facing in registration under the said scheme. He further said that the Kissan Card will prove to be the identity of the farmers in the future. Every subsidy received under the Government of Punjab will be provided to the farmers through Kissan Card. So far, 137 delivery centres have been set up at the tehsil level for delivery of Kissan Card.
Punjab Minister for Agriculture Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani while giving instructions said that this Kissan Card will be operational for agricultural intervention of wheat purchase. He further said that farmers will be able to purchase seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs from 2,160 registered dealers across the province with Kissan Card. Regular monitoring of the purchase process will also be possible with these Kissan Cards.
While reviewing the progress related to the green tractor scheme, the minister said that 9,500 tractors will be provided to the farmers under the Chief Minister Punjab Green Tractor Scheme across the province and the Punjab government should provide a subsidy of Rs 9 billion 50 crore in this regard. A digital balloting will be conducted for these tractors in a transparent manner in proportion to the district quota. On this occasion, the minister also inspected the front desk and delivery point of Kissan Card delivery centre at Lahore.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024