Assam CM holds meeting to boost rural economy

In a bid to boost the rural economy in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday held a meeting with the officials of the Agriculture Department and Chief Minister’s Samagra Gramya Unnayan Yojana (CMSGUY) at Janata Bhawan.

In the meeting, he also discussed several key initiatives aimed at supporting the needs of farmers at the grass root level.

CM Sarma also reviewed the measures proposed by the Agriculture department for setting up Rice Mills, providing Combine Harvesters and Mini Trucks to Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), which are groups of small and marginal farmers during the meeting.

He stressed scaling up the support to farmers and building an ecosystem that facilitates enhanced paddy procurement and promotes the export of farm products.

He also gave directions to make the proposed initiatives more useful and affordable to the farmers.

The Chief Minister said that the state government would extend its support to set up 50 rice mills with 200 MT milling capacity in the state.

This scheme will be promoted in convergence with CMSGUY and Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) with subsidies ranging from 10 lakh to 40 lakh depending on the capacity of the mill.

The state government would also sponsor setting up 1,000 mini rice mills under AIF, Sarma said adding that for such mills, a subsidy of upto Rs 1.17 lakh per mill will be provided. On the other hand, as proposed by the Agriculture Department, Combine Harvesters will be provided to FPCs for which subsidy up to 90 per cent will be provided.

The Chief Minister also asked the Department to carry out the scheme for providing Mini Trucks to FPCs for helping them use the same for agricultural purposes with a subsidy to the tune of 30 per cent or Rs 1.5 lakh whichever is less.

Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Finance Minister Ajanta Neog, Additional Chief Secretary FCS&CS BR Samal, Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture Asish Kumar Bhutani, Principal Secretary to CM Samir Kumar Sinha, CEO CMSGUY Padmapani Bora and other officials were present at the meeting.

Earlier, the Chief Minister also held a meeting with officials of the Finance Department for the identification of projects under NABARD Infrastructure Development Assistance (NIDA), Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) and Rural Infrastructure Assistance to State Governments (RIAS).

The projects such as 2000 numbers of Anganwadi Centres, Old Age Home at Boko, Tourism Project at Jongalbolohu Garh, and Stadium at Chandrapur were also discussed to take up under the NIDA during the meeting.

CM Sarma also asked the officials to expedite the release of the fund under RIDF and identify income generating and livelihood projects for taking up under RIAS