Dehradun to get Rs 3,641 crore for development of farming

DEHRADUN: National Co-operative Development Corporation (

NCDC

) will provide Rs ,3641 crore to Uttarakhand in three years for development of goat, sheep

farming

, fisheries, dairy farming, aromatic plant, silk cultivation and poultry farming.


In the first installment, the state will get Rs 799.63 crore and the money, officials said, will be used to double farmer’s income in the state.

Chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh held a meeting on Monday and said that the project will be implemented by co-operative department through 4,000 co-operatives societies. He added that an action plan has been formulated under which a project management unit (PMU) will be established at the state level and project director will be appointed. For all the districts, district level PMUs will also be formed.

R Meenakshi Sundaram, secretary co-operatives said the proposal has been prepared and it will now go to cabinet for approval after that it will be sent to NCDC for approval which will then release the money. “Around 80% of the money will be provided as loan and rest 20% will be provided as grant, effectively making the entire loan interest free or at a nominal rate one or two per cent. The money will be used for both the infrastructure development and for providing various loans to farmers,” Sundaram said.

According to the action plan, the areas of herb cultivation will be developed in cluster-based model which will have 15-20 villages providing just one product. The

prime focus

of the entire project will be hills and the government is also hoping to stop the migration of people from hills by providing direct and indirect employment to people.