Bhubaneswar: Even as farmers are going through a hard time due to Covid-19, the state government has decided to stop providing additional 35 per cent subsidy for the execution of micro-irrigation projects under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).
The directorate of horticulture has stopped providing additional subsidy to farmers which it did over and above the assistance provided by the Centre from the current financial year due to the Covid-19. Horticulture director has written a letter in this regard to all field level officials. However, the State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary will take a final call on this move.
“This is to apprise that the provision of top-up subsidy, over and above the subsidy provided under the Central Sponsored Scheme PMKSY (per drop more crop) for installation of drip/sprinkler irrigation system has been decided by the government not to be entertained from the state 2020-21,” the director said in his letter. Nonetheless, the provision of subsidy as entertained under the scheme will continue as such as per the provisions of the scheme, he said. The district-level officials have also been asked to prepare their plan for the current financial year accordingly.
The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) was launched in 2015 with an aim to provide assistance to farmers to set up micro-irrigation system drip/sprinkler in their crop fields.
As per the guidelines of the scheme, small and marginal farmers got 55 per cent subsidy for implementation of the micro-irrigation project while the subsidy amount for other farmers was 45 per cent. The subsidy cost will be met by both the Centre and the state government in a ratio of 60:40 for all states except for the North Eastern and Himalayan states.
In Odisha, the government was providing 35 per cent top-up subsidy out of its own resources over and above the assistance mentioned above for all categories of farmers. Hence, the assistance payable to the beneficiary under micro-irrigation scheme was 90 per cent for small and marginal farmers and 80 per cent for other farmers. The subsidy payable to the beneficiary is limited to an overall ceiling of 5 hectares per farmer. Small and marginal farmers in the state, especially those doing horticulture crops, will be hit hard by this move of the government.
“In view of Covid-19, the government has taken many austerity measures. This top-up subsidy may be stooped for this year only,” said an official of the horticulture directorate. Last year, the state government had sanctioned over 23,000 projects under the PMKSY and provided subsidy of over Rs 23.58 crore to farmers. The Centre has earmarked Rs 45 crore under the scheme for Odisha.
Biswa Bhusan Mohapatra, OP
