New Delhi:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today took stock of the progress made on revival of three fertiliser plants, setting up of an agriculture university in Bihar and soft loans to cash-starved sugar mills as he reviewed progress made on the decisions by the Cabinet.
At the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Modi reviewed the status of implementation of the several key Cabinet and CCEA decisions taken in the last 18 months related to the sectors of food, fertiliser and agriculture.
“Prime Minister also gave a pep talk to secretaries and ministers on maintaining timeline for implementation of the Cabinet decisions,” sources said.
According to the sources, Prime Minister emphasised that there should not be any delay in moving fresh proposals for the Cabinet approval and the timeline should be maintained for implementation after the nod.
On progress of Cabinet decision related to sugar, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in the meeting that out of Rs 6,000 crore soft loan approved for sugar mills, about Rs 4,152 crore has been disbursed so far this year.
Sugar mills have exported 6.5 lakh tonnes of sugar and contracted 99 crore litres of ethanol supply for blending with petrol, the minister informed.
Moreover, cane arrears to farmers have declined to about Rs 2,500 now crore from over Rs 20,000 crore in mid-2015.
With regard to sugarcane subsidy, he said the decision has been notified.
Modi also reviewed the progress of decisions related to Ministry of Agriculture like establishment of Rajendra Agricultural University in Bihar.
Ahead of Budget 2016-17, Prime Minister took stock of the progress made in the revival of closed fertiliser plants at Sindri, Barouni and Gorakhpur.
Financial restructuring of Bramhaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Ltd (BVFCL) and setting up of a new brownfield ammonia urea complex within the existing premises of BVFCL Namrup were also discussed along with fixation of nutrient based subsidy rates for phosphatic and potassic fertilisers for 2015-16.
