India News | Maha Govt to Be Guarantor for Rs 1,500-cr Loan of Cotton Body

Mumbai, Jan 20 (PTI) The Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to stand guarantor for a Rs 1,500 crore bank loan taken by the State Co-operative Cotton Growers Marketing Federation to pay farmers for procuring their produce at minimum support price (MSP).

The decision was taken at the weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

The federation has taken a loan of Rs 1,500 crore from Bank of Maharashtra at 6.35 per cent interest rate annually.

The state government has also waived the guarantee fee to be charged from the federation for the loan, a statement from the Chief Ministers Office (CMO) said.

The statement said the Central government has announced an MSP of Rs 5,825 per quintal for long staple cotton and Rs 5,515 for medium staple cotton for the 2020-21 kharif season.

Due to satisfactory monsoon in 2020 and favourable weather conditions, production of 400 lakh quintal of cotton is expected in the state, it said.

The statement said cotton prices have come down in international market and also in the open market, and the Centre has increased the MSP.

Cotton procurementthis year in Maharashtra is expected to be more than what it was the lastseason, it added.

In another decision, the cabinet gave a green signal for private banks to handle government banking transactions.

As of now, only PSU banks are allowed to handle transactions of government offices, public undertakings, boards and corporations as well as salaries and pension of government employees and retirees.

The cabinet approved participation of private banks in these transactions in a limited way.

For salaries and allowances, accounts can be opened in private banks approved by the state government, the statement said.

Account holders can use banking technologyfor which no additional charge will be levied, the statement said.

Government employees will be allowed to use accounts in private banks only for salaries and they cannot deposit any other funds in them, it added.

Retired state employees can open pension account in any of the private bank approved by the government.

The statement said private banks will need to enter into an MoU with the government for handling these transactions. For this, they will have to submit their proposal to the finance department by February 28.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to implement the central government-sponsored project in the education sector called STARS - 'strengthening teaching, learning and results for states.

Apart from Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh Kerala have been chosen for the project based on a performance grading index.

The Centre will bear 60 per cent and the Maharashtra government 40 per cent of the total expenditure of Rs 976 crore on the project in the next five years.

Strengthening education and learning systems, classroom instructions and bringing transparency in educational system are among the goals of the project, the statement said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)