Chhattisgarh: Rs. 149.51 crore bonus disbursed under 'Bonus Tihar' programme

The Chhattisgarh Government on Thursday distributed bonus to farmers under the "Bonus Tihar" programme against procurring paddy in the previous kharif season.

Chief Minister Raman Singh announced a bonus worth Rs. 149.51 crore for the farmers of the Surguja district.

He also transferred a bonus of over Rs. 32 crore to over 18.7 thousand farmers for the paddy purchased by the Primary Agriculture Co-Operative Societies in 2016-17 kharif season at the minimum support price, digitally.

The groundbreaking ceremony was performed for 252 different construction works at the cost of over Rs. 97 crore and 18 other newly-created construction works at the cost of over Rs. 13 crore were inaugurated.

Simultaneously, material worth over Rs. 6.26 crore was distributed to nearly 9,000 beneficiaries under various beneficial schemes of the state and the Centre.

The Chief Minister also flagged off two 108 ambulances and three general ambulances of the health department.

Speaking at the occasion, Raman Singh said that the state government is committed to the development of the poor, the farmers and the labourers here.

He informed that modern farming facilities are being provided to the farmers for their betterment, which includes advanced fertiliser seeds, seedling plant, drip irrigation and others so that the farmers could get better and quality productivity of the crops.

Crop insurance has also been given to the farmers so that they get sufficient compensation in case of crop failure, he added.

In the direction of welfare of farmers, the Chief Minister further said that the interest rate of loans given to farmers has been reduced from 14 per cent to 9 per cent, which further was limited to 3 per cent and now it has been reduced to zero per cent.

Singh added that under the Chief Minister's Health Insurance Scheme, now people will receive health insurance of Rs. 50,000 for the next 10 years against Rs. 30,000 earlier.

According to the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, his government has set a target to provide housing to everyone by the year 2022, under the Pradhanmantri Awas Yojana.

Addressing the crowd on the occasion, Singh also appreciated all the welfare schemes initialed by the government at the Centre.