Social justice minister Shivajirao Moghe, who is also in-charge minister of Nagpur district, on Thursday supported the demand for hiking minimum support price (MSP) of cotton to at least Rs 5,000 a quintal. The Union government had earlier announced this year's MSP at Rs 3,030, raising it by a mere Rs 30 over that of last year.
Moghe, who represents Kelapur in cotton belt of Yavatmal, confirmed that because of higher input costs in cotton cultivation, farmers were shifting back to soyabean. The demand for soya seeds suddenly shot up in the last couple of weeks, he said. Soya has a shorter crop cycle than cotton and it needs less labour cost. That was the reason despite cotton getting good price last season, people were trying out soya which was out of favour for the last few years, he added. Soya and cotton are the two main cash crops in Vidarbha.
Moghe held a district-level meeting of officials to review the crop loan disbursement situation. It was found that the nationalised banks were once again far behind in short-term farm lending. Out of the target of Rs 307 crore fixed for them, they had barely managed to disburse Rs 41.77 crore towards crop loans. On the other hand, the Nagpur district central co-operative bank (NDCCB), which had a target of Rs 257 crore, distributed loans totalling Rs 197.38 crore.
During the meeting, the nationalised banks' representatives agreed to speed up the process. When they pointed out that their core banking network had no penetration in several pockets of the district, the state officials offered help of village-level co-operatives network to collect loan applications from farmers to be forwarded to nationalised and commercial bank offices. It was also agreed that special loan camps would be conducted where banks and farmers would come together and clear loan proposals at express speed as the kharif season has already entered the second week. "The banks have promised to meet the targets by July end. So we will hold another review meeting next month," said Moghe.
Flying squads and quality control inspectors were deployed all through the district to monitor sale of quality seeds of cotton soyabean, paddy and vegetables, said Moghe, stressing that there was no shortage of seeds or the chemical fertlisers. Strict action was being taken to check if any irregularities were found and farmers' complaints were being attended to promptly, Moghe said.
Ramjhula issue raised before CM
Guardian minister Shivajirao Moghe said that the issue of delay in completion of Ramjhula, the cable-held bridge over the Nagpur railway station connecting east and west Nagpur, has been taken up with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.
"There is a dispute between the contractors and the state agencies like public works enterprise and MSRDC which are involved in execution of the project. With the railway ministry taking its own time in giving necessary clearances, the work has been far behind schedule. As a result, there has been a steep cost escalation.
"The contractor appointed to do the work on BOT basis is demanding more funds. The ministry involved has no budgetary provision to take care of escalation in costs. So, we have taken up the matter with the CM. We expect him to arrange a meeting in next 10 to 15 days for a final decision. The government will have to decide whether it can cover cost escalation and let the contractor complete the work or to re-tender the work and assign it to new bidders. We are hoping the matter will be resolved in the next two weeks and work on Ramjhula project will resume," said Moghe.
Moghe, who represents Kelapur in cotton belt of Yavatmal, confirmed that because of higher input costs in cotton cultivation, farmers were shifting back to soyabean. The demand for soya seeds suddenly shot up in the last couple of weeks, he said. Soya has a shorter crop cycle than cotton and it needs less labour cost. That was the reason despite cotton getting good price last season, people were trying out soya which was out of favour for the last few years, he added. Soya and cotton are the two main cash crops in Vidarbha.
Moghe held a district-level meeting of officials to review the crop loan disbursement situation. It was found that the nationalised banks were once again far behind in short-term farm lending. Out of the target of Rs 307 crore fixed for them, they had barely managed to disburse Rs 41.77 crore towards crop loans. On the other hand, the Nagpur district central co-operative bank (NDCCB), which had a target of Rs 257 crore, distributed loans totalling Rs 197.38 crore.
During the meeting, the nationalised banks' representatives agreed to speed up the process. When they pointed out that their core banking network had no penetration in several pockets of the district, the state officials offered help of village-level co-operatives network to collect loan applications from farmers to be forwarded to nationalised and commercial bank offices. It was also agreed that special loan camps would be conducted where banks and farmers would come together and clear loan proposals at express speed as the kharif season has already entered the second week. "The banks have promised to meet the targets by July end. So we will hold another review meeting next month," said Moghe.
Flying squads and quality control inspectors were deployed all through the district to monitor sale of quality seeds of cotton soyabean, paddy and vegetables, said Moghe, stressing that there was no shortage of seeds or the chemical fertlisers. Strict action was being taken to check if any irregularities were found and farmers' complaints were being attended to promptly, Moghe said.
Ramjhula issue raised before CM
Guardian minister Shivajirao Moghe said that the issue of delay in completion of Ramjhula, the cable-held bridge over the Nagpur railway station connecting east and west Nagpur, has been taken up with chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.
"There is a dispute between the contractors and the state agencies like public works enterprise and MSRDC which are involved in execution of the project. With the railway ministry taking its own time in giving necessary clearances, the work has been far behind schedule. As a result, there has been a steep cost escalation.
"The contractor appointed to do the work on BOT basis is demanding more funds. The ministry involved has no budgetary provision to take care of escalation in costs. So, we have taken up the matter with the CM. We expect him to arrange a meeting in next 10 to 15 days for a final decision. The government will have to decide whether it can cover cost escalation and let the contractor complete the work or to re-tender the work and assign it to new bidders. We are hoping the matter will be resolved in the next two weeks and work on Ramjhula project will resume," said Moghe.
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