Shimla.... The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to nominate its flagship polyhouse scheme for the ‘Prime Minister’s Best Administrative Practices Award’ for this year.
The Rs 353-crore scheme gives 80 per cent subsidy to farmers to set up polyhouses — a green house structure to grow cash crops. With an investment of Rs 70 crore, about 7,000 farmers — most of them in the mid-hill districts of Bilaspur, Hamirur, Solan, Kangra and Chamba — have benefitted from the scheme.
“The government has decide to evaluate the scheme by a third party, comprising experts from the state’s two horticulture and agriculture universities. About 30 per cent of the samples will be randomly chosen by the National Informatics Center for evaluation. The work will be finished in two months,” said Agriculture Secretary Ramsubhag Singh.
Singh admitted that farmers had raised relevant issues like soil health and adverse effects of chemical inputs. “We have set up an inter-disciplinary group at the Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur, to address these issues. The department is working on a booklet to compile best practices for the farmers’ benefits.” he added. The agriculture secretary said since the scheme had started receiving country-wide appreciations, the government is preparing a status paper, which would be sent to Delhi shortly to be considered for the PM’s award for best administrative practices.

Express news
10 june 2010