CHANDIGARH: Punjab government Wednesday decided to subsidise the  purchase of agricultural equipment by the cooperative societies in the state.  A decision to this effect was taken by Punjab Chief Minister  Parkash Singh Badal at a meeting to review the rural indebtedness.

Badal said that this proposal would not only make these co-operative societies self sustainable and economic viable but also reduce the burden of over capitalization in the agriculture sector. He said that farmers would be able to hire the services of these co-operative societies for the tilling and leveling of their land by making nominal payment to the societies instead of buying expensive equipment themselves.

It was informed in the meeting that some co-operative societies were already doing this successfully in some parts of the State and others could be easily brought within the ambit of this scheme. Mr. Badal appreciated that the proposed scheme would considerably lessen the burden of debt on the farmer's especially small and marginal ones.

Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Media Advisor to Chief Minister  Harcharan Bains, Chief Secretary  Ramesh Inder Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister  D.S. Guru, Financial Commissioner Revenue  Romila Dubey, Financial Commissioner Development  G.S. Sandhu and Financial Commissioner Cooperation Kusumjit Sidhu.