PM-KUSUM: JAKEDA holds publicity cum awareness workshop for farmers in Rajouri

RAJOURI : To sensitize the farmers as well as general public about the main features of the newly launched PM-KUSUM scheme, one-day publicity cum awareness camp was organized by Jammu & Kashmir Energy Development Agency (JAKEDA) here at Conference Hall of the PWD Dak Bunglow Rajouri.

Chief Executive Officer, JAKEDA, Babila Rakwal in presence of Deputy Commissioner Rajouri, Rajesh K Shavan, launched the publicity cum awareness programme for installation of solar power agriculture pumps under “Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthan Mahabhiyaan (PM-KUSUM) Yojana” in the District.

ADC Nowshera, Sukhdev Singh Sambayal; ADC Kalakote, Krishan Lal; ADC Koteranka, Surinder Mohan Sharma; PO ICDS, Kartar Singh; CAO, Mahesh Verma; DSEO, Bilal Rashid Mir besides the other concerned district and sectoral officers also attended the programme.

Among the others, DDC Members, BDC Chairpersons, Sarpanches, panches and farmers were present during the programme.

The scheme shall be implemented in J&K by the Jammu and Kashmir Energy Development Agency (JAKEDA), department of Science & Technology.

The participants were sensitized about the benefits of the scheme in reducing the production cost of the crops and facilitating increase in the income of farmers.

In his address, the Deputy Commissioner said, “Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy and irrigation is the backbone of Agriculture.” “Scheme like PM-KUSUM has been launched solely with the aim to raise the income the farmers and they should come forward to avail the benefits of such schemes”, the Deputy Commissioner added. The Deputy Commissioner asked the public representatives to identify the eligible beneficiaries in their respective jurisdictions so that they can be provided necessary benefits under the scheme. .

While speaking on the occasion, the Chief Executive Officer, JAKEDA, Babila Rakwal highlighted the advantages of solar pumps over the conventional ones and emphasized that with the installation of solar pumps the dependence of farmers on electricity, petrol and diesel would come down considerably and benefit the farmers economically. She said that initially 5000 solar plants have been sanctioned in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir. She highlighted the importance of the scheme saying that Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) Scheme with an objective of increasing farmers’ income, providing a reliable source for irrigation and de-dieseliste the farm sector. She also appealed to the farmers to step forward and take advantage of the scheme so that the objective of the scheme is fulfilled and appealed to the concerned officers to make concerted efforts to achieve the target of doubling their income by 2022.

Later, during the technical session, various queries related to the scheme were put forth by the PRIs and the technical team of the JAKEDA responded to every raised query effectively.

The programme was well managed and coordinated by DSEO Rajouri, Bilal Rashid Mir.