26 February 2024, Chandigarh: The Haryana government will waive off the interest and penalty of the farmers to the tune of Rs 1739 crores. This was disclosed by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar while addressing the media persons after presenting his 5th budget as Finance Minister in the Vidhan Sabha on Friday.
Regarding a pivotal announcement made in the budget for the benefit of ‘Annadata’, the Chief Minister said that loans are being given to farmers through the Primary Agriculture Credit Society (PACS).
“It is announced in the budget to waive off interest and penalty on the crop loan, in case the Crop loan was availed till 30th September 2023 and the principal amount is paid by 31st May 2024, provided the farmer is registered on MFMB. The number of crops loanee farmers from PACS is around 5,43,900 and the principal amount is Rs 2140 crore and the interest and penalty is Rs 1739 crore.”
The Chief Minister added that thereafter, the farmer will be eligible for crop loan from PACS during the Kharif season 2024. With this decision, farmers will be eligible to get crop loans from PACS for the Kharif season 2024.
CM Khattar said that PACS (Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies) will now expand their scope beyond agricultural inputs to encompass a diverse array of activities, such as food processing, packaging, marketing, storage, transportation, insurance, and other rural-based services. He said that 500 new CM-PACS will be opened in 2024-25. In addition, 1000 new Har-Hit stores will also be established.
Divulging other priorities of the budget, the Haryana Chief Minister said that for the financial year 2024-25, the priority of the current state government will be GYAN – to ensure adequate facilities for the underprivileged (Garib) and the farmers (Anndata), while also enhancing development opportunities for the youth (Yuva) and empowering women (Narishakti).
Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar who also holds the portfolio of the finance minister, presented the government’s fifth budget consecutively. For the fiscal year 2024-25, a budget of Rs. 1,89,876.61 crore was presented, which is 11.37 percent higher than the revised estimates of Rs. 1,70,490.84 crore for the year 2023-24. This includes Rs. 1,34,456.36 lakh crore allocated for revenue expenditure and Rs. 55,420.25 lakh crore for capital expenditure, accounting for 70.81 percent and 29.19 percent of the total budget, respectively.
