Switch To Biogas: Plants planned in Bahawalnagar, Kasur

MULTAN: “The government has decided to install 36 biogas plants in Bahawalnagar and Kasur to run tube wells and provide farmers a viable way of lifting water at cheaper running cost,” said provincial assembly member Rana Ijaz Ahmad Noon on Monday. He said if the pilot project was a success, farmers would be given upto Rs7.5 billion subsidy for installation of such plants across the province. “Each farmer will get Rs200,000 subsidy for one biogas plant,” he said. The initiative would spare the farmers the electricity and fuel costs, Noon said. He said the government had taken notice of low market price of rice and had allocated Rs10 billion to stabilise Basmati rice prices. He said farmers cultivating Basmati rice would get Rs5,000 per acre cash grants. He said the Agriculture Department had begun preparing record of Basmati rice growers in the Punjab. He said the Punjab government had not issued any notification on reduction in sugarcane prices. He said farmers facing difficulties in receiving payments from sugar mills should approach the DCO or contact him over the phone to get their grievances addressed.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 9^th, 2014.