In welcome news for farmers, the State government has decided to provide a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal to the paddy growers. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis made the announcement.
At present the paddy farmers in Maharashtra are getting a bonus of Rs 200 per quintal. Paddy is the major crop of several hundreds of farmers across Maharashtra, in particular Vidarbha. The government has now decided to increase the bonus to Rs 500 per quintal in the election year.
“The previous government had also announced the bonus around the election time. But, the BJP-led government paid bonus of Rs 200 per quintal to paddy every year, irrespective of polls,” Fadnavis said addressing a gathering at Sakoli tehsil in Bhandara district.
“There is a demand for a hike in paddy crop bonus. The government has decided to increase the bonus from Rs 200 to Rs 500 per quintal,” he added.
To woo the distressed farmers ahead of the general polls, the NDA government at the Centre had last year hiked the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy by Rs 200 per quintal for the 2018-19 crop year.
With that decision, the MSP of paddy (common grade) was increased to Rs 1,750 per quintal.
Meanwhile, Fadnavis also said that no lease will be recovered for fishing in lakes up to 500 hectares of area.
Moreover, fishing contracts will be allocated only to fishing cooperative societies, he said.
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