Punjab ends MoU with Reliance Ind

The ambitious project of Reliance Industries (RIL) to put up progressive farming practices in Punjab has been scrapped as the Punjab cabinet has terminated the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with RIL in 2006 for setting up of Agricultural Mega Projects in the state, saying that no action had been taken in accordance with the provisions of the MoU.

The state cabinet terminated the MoU on Saturday since no headaway has been made in the project in the last three years.

The agreement was signed in the regime of Captain Amarinder Singh in 2006 that proposed setting up of   52 rural hubs and 250 sub-hubs across 18 districts of Punjab to facilitate many other things besides the cultivation of fresh vegetables.

 

According to the MoU signed between the Punjab Agro Industries and RIL, a breakthrough in the agriculture would be brought as this would impart the training to the farmers, facilitate micro irrigation to contain the dwindling water table in the state, expand dairy farming in Punjab, education projects for the primary and middle education and entertainment hubs for the rural population.

The Punjab government perceived a four-fold increase in the farmers income as Reliance was to source fresh vegetables for its 20,000 retail outlets under the brand name to ‘field to fork’ across India.

The project worth Rs 5,000 cr was to cover 12,400 villages out of 12,700 villages of Punjab under the Reliance Rural Hubs model.