LAHORE: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed Monday between the Agriculture Department Punjab and Margalla Heavy Industries Limited, Taxila, to carry out the repair and maintenance of 20 bulldozers from the field wing of the agriculture department Punjab by the heavy industries.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister for Agriculture Punjab Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani and Secretary Agriculture Punjab Iftikhar Ali Sahoo at a ceremony at the Agriculture House, Lahore.
The MoU was formally signed by Director General Field (Agriculture), Sajid Naseer, and Chief Executive Officer of Heavy Industries Taxila, Brigadier Nadeem Ahmed.
Brigadier Jawad (r) from Heavy Industries Taxila, Special Secretary Agriculture Agha Nabeel Akhtar, Additional Secretary Agriculture (Planning) Captain Waqas Rasheed, and Additional Director General (Engineering) Multan, Afzal Tahir were also present on this occasion.
Following the signing ceremony, Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Punjab, Syed Ashiq Hussain Kirmani, chaired a review meeting on the Chief Minister’s Wheat Support Programme and Kisan Card Phase II.
Speaking at the meeting, the Minister stated that under these programmes, disbursement of funds to farmers through the Bank of Punjab will commence on May 22. He was informed that 487,000 farmers have already repaid their loans under the first phase of the Kisan Card scheme.
He emphasized that to benefit from all agricultural initiatives of the government, possession of a Kisan Card must be made mandatory. He further noted that the scope of Kisan Card Phase II has been expanded, increasing the loan limit to Rs300,000, eliminating transaction charges, and introducing a facility for diesel purchase.
In addition to Kisan Card holders, other farmers are also applying for the wheat support program via the dedicated portal, with 250,000 applications already received. The deadline to apply for this program is May 31. Through the same portal, an additional 100,000 farmers can register for new Kisan Cards. A total of Rs10 billion will be distributed among 500,000 farmers under the wheat support programme.
The Bank of Punjab has approved over 542,000 farmer applications for Kisan Card Phase II, and the Punjab Land Records Authority (PLRA) has completed verification for nearly 500,000 of them. Iftikhar Ali Sahoo stressed the need to intensify the awareness campaign across social media, electronic media, and print media to ensure that more farmers can benefit from the government’s loans and incentives.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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