Mukhya Mantri Green House Renovation Scheme (MMGRS)

What is the Mukhya Mantri Green House Renovation Scheme?

Mukhya Mantri Green House Renovation Scheme, abbreviated MMGRS, is a state scheme of the Department of Horticulture, Government of Himachal Pradesh that pays for replacing the polysheet on an existing poly house. The scheme was launched in the financial year 2017-18 and is also written as Mukhya Mantri Greenhouse Renovation Scheme.

The problem MMGRS was created to solve is specific and well documented in the department's own guidelines. Himachal Pradesh has brought roughly 14,44,879 square metres under poly houses and shade net houses since 2003 under the Technology Mission and its successors, mostly in Shimla, Sirmaur, Solan, Una, Kullu, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Mandi and Kangra. Those structures let farmers grow tomato, capsicum and cucumber in summer, lettuce, spinach and coriander in winter, and cut flowers such as carnation, gerbera, lilium and rose through the year. But the cladding sheet is the weakest part. Torrential rain, heavy snowfall, sharp winds and hailstorms tear it apart, and even without a calamity the sheet degrades in about five years.

Until MMGRS, the department funded construction of new poly houses and the cost of cultivation, but nothing for replacing the sheet. According to the scheme guidelines, assistance was first provided at 50 per cent subject to a maximum of Rs 32 per square metre, with the scheme implemented by the Department of Agriculture. The state government then raised the rate of assistance to 70 per cent and allocated funds to the Department of Horticulture from 2018-19, widening the reach to a much larger set of greenhouse growers.

What does MMGRS pay for?

Mukhya Mantri Green House Renovation Scheme funds exactly one activity.

On the first 1,000 square metres, a grower can therefore receive up to about Rs 44,800 of assistance. Where the department extends the area to the ceiling of 4,000 square metres, the assistance can reach roughly Rs 1.79 lakh, though that extension is discretionary and depends on both budget availability and there being no competing demand from other poly house farmers.

Two rules decide how much of the sheet can be replaced. For a poly house that is five or more years old, 100 per cent replacement of the polysheet is eligible. Where the claim is based on calamity damage, only the partially damaged portion of the sheet is to be replaced, and that portion has to be authenticated by field officials of the Horticulture Department with photographs and documents.

Assistance is back-ended. The grower spends first and is reimbursed after verification.

Who is eligible for the Green House Renovation Scheme?

You can apply if:

• You are a bonafide farmer of Himachal Pradesh. The guidelines state that only bonafide farmers of Himachal Pradesh are eligible.
• You are an individual beneficiary engaged in greenhouse cultivation of high value flowers or vegetable crops.
• Your poly house was constructed under a centrally sponsored scheme implemented by the Department of Horticulture, Himachal Pradesh, HTM, HMNEH, MIDH or RKVY.
• Your poly house is five or more years old, or its polysheet has been damaged by a natural calamity such as heavy snowfall, hail, sharp winds or torrential rain.
• You are actively producing crops in the poly house at your own cost at the time the project proposal is submitted.
• You are willing to give an affidavit that the poly house will not be sublet, leased, sold or transferred.

You cannot apply if:

• You are not a bonafide Himachali farmer.
• Your poly house is abandoned. The guidelines say directly that no benefit is provided for renovation of abandoned poly houses.
• Your poly house was built entirely privately and never received departmental assistance under HTM, HMNEH, MIDH or RKVY.
• The structure is less than five years old and has not suffered calamity damage.
• You have sublet, leased, sold or transferred the poly house.
• You have already exhausted the 4,000 square metre per-beneficiary ceiling.
• You completed the renovation before receiving a sanction or work order, in which case the damage cannot be verified in the manner the guidelines require.

Eligibility alone does not guarantee assistance. The Department of Horticulture reserves the right to accept, reject or restrict approval of project proposals subject to availability of funds, and its decision is final.

How to apply for MMGRS

1. Get the damage or the age of the sheet on record. Inform the Horticulture Extension Officer or Horticulture Development Officer of your development block as soon as the sheet is damaged, so the inspection happens while the evidence is visible.
2. Fill the application form (Annexure I). The form is addressed to the Deputy Director of Horticulture of your district and asks for your name, age, category, contact number, permanent address, the location of the orchard or greenhouse, total land owned in hectares, type of land, crops grown, accessibility, the year the greenhouse was constructed and the scheme under which it was built, and the total cost estimate of the proposal.
3. Attach the proof of land ownership; kisan pass book, jamabandi, tatima or a certificate from the revenue officer: along with the cost estimate, photographs and the affidavit against subletting.
4. Let the field officer record the damage report (Annexure II). The HEO or HDO inspects the site, records the damage in a register at his office supported by photographs and prepares the damage report, which is enclosed when the case goes forward for a work order or sanction.
5. Verification up the line. The Subject Matter Specialist (Horticulture) physically verifies 100 per cent of cases before submitting them to the Deputy Director of Horticulture, and the DDH physically inspects at least 25 per cent of cases before subsidy is released.
6. Wait for the sanction or work order from the DDH or SMS. Do not buy sheet before this.
7. Do the renovation yourself. Execution is by the beneficiary at his own level, to the quality standards already followed for poly house construction under MIDH.
8. File the claim. Submit the back-ended subsidy claim to the concerned HEO or HDO after the renovation work is complete, with the bills.

An online application can also be filed through the eUdyan portal at eudyan.hp.gov.in, where MMGRS is listed among the state sponsored subsidy schemes, but the physical inspection and damage report steps are the same either way.

How do I check the status of my case?

Track the file at the two offices that hold it. The HEO or HDO of your development block holds the damage report register and the initial case; the Subject Matter Specialist and the Deputy Director of Horticulture at district headquarters hold the sanction and the release. Ask specifically whether the SMS has completed the 100 per cent verification and whether your case falls in the 25 per cent sample the DDH must inspect before release, since those two steps are where cases usually sit.

If you applied on eUdyan, log in with the same credentials and use the application tracking option on the portal.

Why do MMGRS claims get rejected?

• The poly house was not built under a departmental scheme. This is the single hardest disqualification to work around, because the guidelines confine assistance to structures previously constructed under centrally sponsored schemes implemented by the Department of Horticulture.
• The poly house is abandoned or empty. No crop in production at the time of the proposal means no benefit.
• No damage report or no photographs, so the partial damage claimed cannot be authenticated.
• Claim for more than the damaged area where the basis is calamity damage rather than age.
• Area beyond 1,000 square metres claimed in the first instance without the department having extended it.
• Renovation done before sanction, so the pre-work condition was never verified.
• Affidavit not furnished on subletting, lease, sale or transfer.
• Funds exhausted for the financial year.

What are the key dates?

MMGRS has no announced last date for applications. The practical calendar is the state financial year, which ends on 31 March, and sanctions are made against the allocation for that year. The other timing that matters is the calamity itself: report damage immediately, because a damage report written weeks later with the sheet already patched is very hard to substantiate.

How does MMGRS relate to Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana?

Himachal Pradesh runs protection-related support through two departments and it is easy to apply at the wrong counter. The Department of Agriculture merged three of its protection schemes — Saur Badbandi, anti-hail net structures and green house renovation; into Mukhyamantri Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana, where the green house renovation component provides 70 per cent assistance for replacement of poly sheets after five years of poly house set-up or damage due to natural calamities. The Department of Horticulture continues to list MMGRS separately as a state sponsored scheme on eUdyan.

The practical rule is simple: apply to the department that sanctioned your original poly house. If it was a horticulture scheme such as HTM, HMNEH or MIDH through the Horticulture Department, your case belongs with the Deputy Director of Horticulture under MMGRS.

Where do I complain if something goes wrong?

Raise the matter first with the Horticulture Development Officer of your development block, then with the Subject Matter Specialist (Horticulture) and the Deputy Director of Horticulture of your district, who is the sanctioning authority named in the scheme's own application form.

The Directorate of Horticulture, Himachal Pradesh is at Navbahar, Chotta Shimla, Shimla 171002, contactable on 0177-2842390 or at horticul-hp@nic.in. Keep the damage report, the sanction or work order, the purchase bills for the sheet and the completion claim together; under a back-ended scheme those four papers are what settle almost every dispute.