In order to check pollution by preventing stubble burning, Centre has sanctioned Rs 1100 Crore for three states including Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP).

Disclosing this, Haryana chief secretary, DS Dhesi, said an initiative will be rolled out in Punjab, Haryana and UP for management of crop residue.

Speaking at the 144th meeting of State Level Bankers’ Committee, Haryana, Dhesi said that the Prime Minister’s Office had formed a task force to tackle stubble burning and the same has suggested crop residue management in the three states.

“Central government had approved a package of Rs 1,100 Crore for that three states in the first year of the initiative. Under it, the state governments would focus on setting up Custom Hiring Centres with an investment of about Rs 25 lakh, for which modalities would soon be rolled out,” he said.

The chief secretary said under the initiative, subsidy will be provided for equipment for crop residue management.

Referring to record wheat procurement of 87.9 lakh tonnes by the Haryana government, he said that the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s initiative to double farmers’ income by 2022 was of great significance for the state and would also ensure that the farmers get minimum support price.

Dhesi sad that under the ‘Parivartan’ programme launched by Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, 46 senior officers have been allocated a block each for facilitating and monitoring of schemes such as financing to cobblers under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) scheme, and Stand Up India.

Apart from this, Antyodya Seva Kendras were set up on April 14 to help the lowest income group people to obtain information about all the schemes for which they are eligible, under one roof.

Dhesi also urged the banks to make more efforts to improve the progress under Stand Up India and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, which was not up to the mark in 2017-18.

The Reserve Bank of India’s regional director (Chandigarh), Rachna Dikshit, congratulated the chief secretary on Haryana achieving the second rank among all states in terms of digital transactions, by achieving 110 percent of the target of 72 Crore digital transactions allocated to the State as on March 31.

Under this, 43.13 Crore digital transactions were made by banks, which is 60 percent of the total digital transaction in the State through various digital modes.