Imphal, April 29: The Union budget tabled at the Parliament on February 29 this year by the Union Finance Minister was a historic one in the post independence era, said chairman of MPCC's Kishan Khet Mazdoor Congress H Nabakumar.

During a press conference at Hotel New Airlines, MG Avenue this morning, Nabakumar asserted that the budget amply demonstrated the UPA Government's concern for the welfare of farmers.

He claimed that UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram have completely waived off the loans indebted to farmers of the country.

In the Union budget for 2008-09 fiscal, the Finance Minister has set apart Rs 50,000 crores to waive off the loans indebted to farmers.

In addition, the UPA Government has earmarked another Rs 10,000 crores to waive off 25 percent of the loans indebted to big farmers, Nabakumar said.

After completing the process of waiving off the existing debts, loans will be extended to farmers at 6 percent interest so that farmers can develop their fields and increase their crop yield.

For this, Rs 2,80,000 crores have already been sanctioned, he informed.

Moreover, another Rs 688 crores have been set aside to address the complaints of farmers under the Crop Insurance Scheme.

To develop road network in rural areas, the UPA Government has earmarked Rs Rs 14,000 crores to develop/construct roads under the PMGSY.

Other allocations related to development of agriculture sector include Rs 5000 crores for procuring fertilizer and Rs 11,000 for developing new agricultural fields.

The Union Govt has also initiated a health insurance scheme for the farmers, said Nabakumar adding that 500 new soil testing centres are coming up across the country.

Stating that timely implementation of all these welfare schemes is the objective of the Congress party, Nabakumar informed that necessary initiatives have been taken up to extend the benefits of all these schemes to the farmers of Manipur.

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