Govt committed to raising income of farmers: Dharmani

The state government is committed to improving income of farmers in the state and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has started many schemes to promote farm and orchard produce, Rajesh Dharmani, Technical Education Minister, said today after inaugurating a multi-purpose complex of the Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti built at a cost of Rs 1.72 crore at Bilaspur.

The ground floor of this complex has four shops for wholesale trade of agricultural produce, car parking on the first floor, a conference room on the second floor and residences for the employees of the Mandi Committee on the third and fourth floors.

Dharmani said the construction of the multi-purpose complex would benefit farmers of the district. He added the government was trying to strengthen the rural economy and farmers, orchardists and fishermen were being given benefits through various welfare schemes.

He said that infrastructure was developed under the JICA project in the state but it was not put to optimum use. He suggested members of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee to use the buildings built under the JICA project so that farmers could benefit from the infrastructure.

Dharmani said that under the HP Shiva project in Bilaspur district, guava and litchi would be produced on a large scale along with citrus fruits. He added Rs 93 crore would be spent on the sewage treatment plant for Bilaspur town and Rs 10 crore were being spent on the nursing training school.

Dharmani said that Rs 1.5 crore would be spent on the construction of the canteen block of the regional hospital and while Rs 5 crore would be spent on a parking lot near the gurdwara.

He said that the government had approved the construction of the building of office of the Deputy Director of Agriculture Department at Rs 5 crore and the work on the City Livelihood Centre would be completed at cost of Rs 4.46 crore.