Dr. Kuldeep Dhiman: Himachal Pradesh to Receive 16 Drones Under Namo Drone Didi Yojana

Chamba, November 18: To make farming work easier and reduce dependence on laborers, it is very important to mechanize these tasks. Mechanization makes farming easier and also reduces the cost. Giving this information, Dr. Kuldeep Dhiman, Deputy Agriculture Director, Chamba District said that under the “Namo Drone Didi Yojana”, “drones” will be made available to “self-help groups” of interested women on 80% subsidy.

Before purchasing the drone, two members of the interested self-help groups will be given training. Out of which one member will be trained as Drone Didi Pilot and the other member will be trained as Drone Assistant.

Dr. Kuldeep Dhiman said that today’s young generation is going towards the city in search of employment and it has become very difficult to find laborers for farming work in the village. Therefore, laborers are not available to spray for the control of pests or diseases in the crops. When the standing crops grow very high, then at that time for the control of pests or diseases in the crops, it becomes difficult to get a drone. It is even more difficult to spray on crops.

Due to high altitude, it is difficult to spray even on fruit plants. Keeping these things in mind, women self-help groups will be given subsidy on purchasing “drones” under the “Namo Drone Didi Yojana”. He said that under the “Namo Drone Didi Yojana”, drones will be made available by the government at 80% subsidy and 20% of the amount will have to be borne by the “self-help group”.

This 20% amount can be between 1.5 to 2.0 lakhs. For which the self-help groups can get a loan from the bank under the “Agri Infra Fund”. This loan is provided by the bank at a very cheap rate and the government also gives a subsidy of 3% on the interest of such loan. Self-help groups can easily repay this bank loan from the income from drones.

Dr. Dhiman said that keeping the above things in mind, interested self-help groups can contact the nearest agriculture office or call the telephone number of their office. You can also contact on 01899 222206. Self-help groups formed by any department and under any scheme can take advantage of this scheme.

He said that under this scheme, entire Himachal Pradesh will get 16 drones but the decision on how many drones Chamba district will get will depend on the demand of the “self-help groups”. Therefore, interested self-help groups should submit their demand to any nearest agriculture office within a day or two.