BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government decided on Thursday to extend by 15 days the last date for repaying Kharif crop loans by farmers.
A state cabinet meeting chaired by CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan decided to extend the last date for repaying the Kharif crop loan for farmers from March 31 to April 15.
Addressing the meeting, the CM said the decision to provide loans to farmers for Kharif crops at zero percent interest rate was taken by the state government in the past. The loan repayment period was to end on March 31 (Thursday).
“Many farmers have not been able to deposit this amount. After the expiry of the period, they will become defaulters and they will have to pay more interest after they become defaulter. In view of this, the last date for repayment of Kharif crop loan is being extended to April 15, this will facilitate the farmers to repay the loan and they will not be a defaulter,” the CM said.
The CM also said that the interest of the loan for the extended period would be paid by the state government, which would amount to about Rs 60 crore. This amount will be deposited by the state government on behalf of the farmers. With this, farmers will be able to deposit their loan amount in a convenient way and they will not become defaulters.
The state cabinet also approved a Rural Transport Credit (RTC) model to provide public transport in the rural areas of the state. The cabinet also approved to implement the model as a pilot project in Vidisha district for six months, starting from May 1 and relaxed the related Acts and rules for vehicles to be operated under the RTC model.
Importantly, the state cabinet’s two day meeting at hill station Pachmarhi last week had decided to come up with a Rural Transport Policy to run public transport buses in rural areas.
The Cabinet approved the implementation of Devaranya Yojana in the state. Devaranya Yojana will be implemented with the objective of creating a value chain for production, storage, marketing of medicinal and aromatic plants by identifying 11 special plant producing areas in the state and developing these areas.