Before the November state polls, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had included in its election manifesto to give a bonus of Rs 300 per quintal to the farmers selling yield to the government. The BJP retained power; pushing the state's finance department to start the exercise to arrange additional fund to meet the election promises.
The finance department had to arrange a sum of Rs 2400 crore for the bonus on paddy. The government had procured about 8 million tonnes of paddy. Following fiscal constraints, the state government in May 2014 released the first installment of bonus that was just half of the actual bonus announced. Uncertainty however prevailed for the remaining part of the bonus as the state government did not set any deadline.
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During his Independence Day address, chief minister Raman Singh announced to release the remaining fund that would enable the farmers to get a full bonus of Rs 300 per quintal. The announcement came after the finance department worked out the plan and ensure the additional amount required to implement it.
The Chhattisgarh government would now be spending about Rs 20,000 crore for the paddy procured from the farmers during the kharif marketing season 2013-14.
The government had spent Rs 17,000 crore for purchasing paddy during the season through the primary cooperative societies set up at the village level.
The chief minister also announced to upgrade the 17 urban bodies in state. While Dhamtari and Birgaon Municipal Councils will be upgraded to Municipal Corporations, Tifra, Ratanpur, Katghora, Ahivara, Saraipali, Takhatpur, Bagbahara, Aarang, Sarangarh, Balrampur, Gariaband, Dantewada, Bijapur, Sukma, and Narayanpur will be upgraded to the status of Municipal Council.Singh said 100 new agricultural equipment service centres will be opened for farmers besides providing computerized soft copies of land records at Tehsil office to the farmers.