PATNA: The state agriculture department would now withdraw subsidy money and park it in a bank either at the state headquarters or at respective district headquarters so that the same could be transferred to the individual accounts of beneficiaries under the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, agriculture minister Ram Vichar Rai said the adoption of DBT method would result in timely payment of subsidy to farmers and also increase the plan expenditure made by the department. Rai added the new method would also boost farm mechanisation in the state. "Prospective farmers would have exposure to wide varieties of agriculture machines at the four-day state level agriculture machine exhibition that opens at Gandhi Maidan here on Wednesday," he added.The exhibition cum-agro machine fair, rated biggest in the eastern zone, would have 100 stalls. It is being jointly organised by the agriculture department and CII. Manufacturers from Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh would display new agriculture machines at the fair.Kumar said the department had earmarked Rs 175 crore to be paid as agriculture subsidy to farmers, including purchase of agriculture machines under farm mechanisation programme, but only Rs 23 crore had so far been transferred to the accounts of the beneficiaries.The minister said a farmer first has to make 100% investment under any scheme, including on the purchase of an agriculture machine, and only after that he or she will be given subsidy - which varies from machine to machine and scheme to scheme - under the DBT mode.Kumar said permits had been given to 1.30 lakh farmers to purchase agricultural machines, and physical verification of the claims of 25,029 farmers had been made for the payment of subsidy, but the subsidy claims of only 4,868 farmers had been cleared under the old method. "Once the DBT method is adopted, we will not have to depend on state treasuries," Kumar said.Department's principal secretary Sudhir Kumar, agriculture director Himanshu Kumar Rai and director (horticulture) Arwinder Singh too addressed the press conference. Vice-president of state council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Prabhat Kumar Sinha was also present.

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