PAC seeks details of beneficiary farmers who got Rs600m subsidy for solar-powered tube wells

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sindh Assembly has sought complete record from the provincial government’s agriculture department showing details of the beneficiary farmers in the province who received a total subsidy of Rs600 million for installing solar-powered tube wells and water pumps for boosting farming activities in the province.

The PAC met on Friday with Nisar Ahmed Khuhro in the chair in the committee room of the Sindh Assembly building to review financial accounts of the Sindh agriculture department from 2019 till 2021.

The director general (DG) Audit Sindh objected to the absence of compete record of Rs600 million subsidy programme executed by the office of the director of agriculture engineering wing of the department to help farmers install solar-powered tube wells and water pumps in the province.

Officials of the agriculture department told the meeting that some 206 farmers had become beneficiaries of the subsidy provided for installing solar-powered tube wells and water pumps.

The DG observed that his office would be in a position to verify the records pertaining to the payment of subsidy if the copies of the computerised national identity cards of the beneficiary farmers and bank drafts drawn in their favour were furnished by the agriculture department.

Khuhro, who is also the Sindh president of the Pakistan Peoples Party, asked officials of the agriculture department if an advertisement had been published by them to properly advertise the subsidy programme so that all farmers in the province could get the chance to become its beneficiaries.

He said the agriculture department should furnish the copies of the advertisement in question that was issued to properly publicise the subsidy programme along with complete details of the beneficiary farmers for settling of the audit para in this connection. He also directed the officials concerned to first get all the relevant official record of the subsidy programme verified from the office of the DG Audit Sindh.

The PAC members were informed that the Sindh agriculture department had 77 bulldozers that were provided on rent to farmers at a rate of Rs200 per hour while the growers had to bear the diesel expense to operate them.