LAHORE, Oct 1: Under the Chief Minister’s Green Tractor Scheme 2012-13, the process of computerised draw for provision of 10,000 tractors to young farmers in 36 districts of Punjab has been completed in a transparent manner, says a handout.

The government would provide Rs200,000 per tractor subsidy.

MNA Malik Pervaiz inaugurated balloting for provision of green tractors to farmers of Lahore district at Alhamra Hall, here on Monday.

DCO Noorul Ameen Mengal, EDO (Agriculture) Syed Zikriya Shah, officers of agriculture department, representatives of tractor manufacturing companies and a large number of farmers were present on the occasion.

As many as 790 tractors had been earmarked for Lahore. A total number of 1,381 applications had been received, out of which 932 were received from Lahore Cantt for 376 tractors, while 449 applications were received for 414 tractors meant for Lahore city.

Speaking on the occasion, Malik Pervaiz said during the last two years 20,000 tractors had been made available to small farmers under the scheme.

In Multan, balloting for tractors was held on Monday at Multan Arts Council building. Punjab Minister for Zakat and Ushr Malik Kamran Nadeem inaugurated the balloting by pressing the computer key.

Ballot for 538 tractors was held and tehsils of City Multan, Multan Sadar, Shujabad and Jalalpur Pirwala were allocated a quota of 214, 148, 95 and 81, respectively. The allocated quota for Tehsil City Multan was 318 but the number of received applications was 214 and tractors were allotted to the farmers without balloting while the remaining tractors were distributed among other tehsils.

A total of 3,292 applications were received from Tehsil Sadar, 1,551 from Shujabad and 1,540 from Jalalpur Pirwala.

Executive District Officer (Agriculture) Sardar Akbar Khan said the list of successful candidates would be made public through local newspapers on Oct 31 while lists would also be affixed to the offices of agriculture department.

He directed the successful candidates to book their tractors with Al-Ghazi Tractors and Millat Tractors which would be handed over to them by Dec 31.

Speaking on the occasion, the provincial minister said the Green Tractor Scheme for small farmers was a tremendous step of the government.

He said this year the chief minister had increased the quota of tractors for southern Punjab by 40 per cent as compared to 32 per cent last year.

In Rajanpur, MPA Atif Husain Mazari inaugurated the ballot at DCO office. A total of 8,778 applications were received against 207 tractors out of which 6,964 applications were declared correct.

In Muzaffargarh, 490 lucky farmers got green tractors through subsidy.

Balloting was held at government boys degree college with DCO Ibrar Ahmad Mirza in the chair. As many as 10,026 applications from four tehsils of Muzaffargarh district had been received and 490 tractors were allotted to small farmers.

Addressing the farmers, the DCO said growers got tractors through a transparent ballot. Nasreen Mai, a first winner through draw, thanked the chief minister and the district government.

In Vehari, as many as 364 tractors were given to farmers through a ballot here on Monday.

The balloting was held in the Vehari district council hall. District Coordination Officer Ehsan Bhutta was the chief guest.

According to the DCO, a total of 10,775 applications had been received, 1,756 were rejected on different technical grounds while the remaining 9,049 were included in the draw. As many as 364 subsidised tractors were given to farmers in Vehari district -- Burewala (126) Mailsi (124) and Vehari tehsil (114).

Talking to Dawn, a farmers group has appealed to the chief minister to increase the number of green tractors for Vehari. The DCO said the Punjab government would provide tractors to successful farmers during one month. He said farmers aged between 18 and 35 were eligible for the green tractor scheme. Nine women were among successful farmers.

In Okara, DCO Saif Anjum speaking at Okara Arts Council hall said the subsidised green tractor scheme would provide great facility of ploughing, sowing and harvesting of crops to farmers.

He said out of 8,000 applications, 5,250 qualified for 252 tractors. Additional Collector Zaheer Abbas Malik, DOC Abdul Ghafoor Chaudhry, EDO (Agriculture) Sher Muhammad were also present at the occasion.

In Kasur, 274 farmers were selected through a lucky draw for tractors on Monday.

The breakup is: 134 for Kasur Tehsil, 66 for Chunian, 51 for Pattoki and 23 for Kot Radha Kishan.