SHIMLA: Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur attended the governing council meeting of Niti Aayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at New Delhi on Sunday. He requested for early release of pending funds under Pradhanmantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna, adding both the irrigation projects under the 99 priority projects list to boost the income of farmers. He said the state government will implement nine schemes to boost income of the farmers in the current year.Thakur apprised the Prime Minister of Rs 343.12 crore central assistance that has been pending for financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17 under Pradhanmantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna (PMKSY). He said the water resources ministry had given priority to 99 irrigation projects in 2016-17 under the yojna for funding, however, no single scheme of Himachal Pradesh was added in this list despite fulfilling all conditions.He said the state government had requested adding of Rs 156.31 crore and Rs 204.51 crore for medium irrigation projects at Nadaun and Finna Singh, for funding under AIBP as all conditions were being fulfilled.The CM said the state government had prepared a water conservation and management proposal with an estimated cost of Rs 4,751 crore for five districts of the state facing shortage of water for irrigation. He said the government had taken up this matter with the Centre for funding through an external agency.A target to plant 10 lakh new saplings by year 2022 has been fixed to boost horticulture , he added.Thakur said Chamba, Hamirpur, Solan, Shimla and Una districts were being covered under National Nutrition Mission and that the state government was making efforts to fill necessary posts for successful implementation of this programme. However, as per the directions of the Government of India, the state will bear the financial burden of posts pertaining to headquarter level, which amounts to Rs 21 crore, said the CM, requesting the Centre to review this decision in the interest of the state so that goals under the programme could be achieved quickly.

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