Punjab Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani on Tuesday chaired a review meeting regarding the green tractor scheme by the chief minister of Punjab, at Agriculture House. The minister said a green tractor scheme was being launched for farmers on the directives of the chief minister Punjab. Under the scheme, small, medium and large tractors would be provided to the farmers on subsidy, he added. Ashiq Hussain Kirmani said that green tractor scheme would be a one year scheme. All the system till the delivery of tractors to the farmers would be mechanised, he added and clarified that if the mechanised system was not done properly, then all this scheme would be useless. The color of the tractor will be “green” and the Chief Minister Punjab Tractor Scheme will be written on it, he added. The minister said that he would personally monitor this scheme. He endorsed that the vision of chief minister Punjab was to launch the scheme on a large scale.

In connection with the purchase of tractor, the farmer should be given the option to buy the good quality tractor of the company he wanted. He made it clear to the representatives of the tractor industry that the SOPs of the Agriculture Department must be taken into account while preparing the green tractor. Secretary Agriculture Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo said that farmers not only, but also the tractor industry would be benefited from this scheme. He maintained that delivery of tractors, receipt of applications and balloting would be conducted in a transparent manner. There would be no compromise on the quality of Green Tractor Scheme, he added. Special Secretary Shehanshah Faisal Azeem, Consultant Agriculture Department, Punjab Dr Muhammad Anjum Ali, Director General Agriculture Field Engineer Sohail Ahmed, Director General Agriculture Extension Punjab Chaudhry Abdul Hameed and Director General Agricultural Information Punjab Naveed Asmat Kahloon participated.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan