Capt to roll out debt waiver scheme in Mansa today
Beneficiaries from 5 districts roped in for event, CM may address questions over rollout
MANSA: Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh will preside over a function for distribution of certificates of debt waiver to hundreds of marginal farmers with a landholding of up to 2.5 acres at a state-level function in Mansa on Sunday. The state government has allocated Rs 170 crore to waive the loan of 47,000 farmers in the first phase, which covers loans taken from cooperative societies registered with the Punjab Agricultural Development Bank.
BATHINDA: Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh will preside over a function for distribution of certificates of debt waiver to hundreds of marginal farmers with a landholding of up to 2.5 acres at a state-level function in Mansa on Sunday.
The state government has allocated Rs 170 crore to waive the loan of 47,000 farmers in the first phase, which covers loans taken from cooperative societies registered with the Punjab Agricultural Development Bank (PADB).
Beneficiaries from five districts of Malwa region — Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktsar and Moga — have been roped in for the event, at which the chief minister is likely also to clear the air over the hue and cry that certain farmers’ lobbies and the opposition — the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) — have been raising.
Leader of opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira would be leading the AAP cadres with black flags at the Mansa event, while the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Bku)-ugrahan activists are also to reach the venue. The SAD would not be holding a protest, though.
Landless peasants have also raised their voice in many districts over being left out.
Police have deputed 2,500 personnel from Mansa and other districts in the face of the protests.
A police spokesman said no protesting group would be allowed to reach the venue, the local grain market.
JAKHAR URGES OPPN NOT TO ‘MISLEAD’
CHANDIGARH: To silence opposition parties before the formal rollout of the crop loan waiver, the government and the ruling party Congress went into a damage-control exercise at Chandigarh.
At a press conference here on the eve of the Mansa event where the CM would distribute certificates of waiver, additional chief secretary (cooperation) DP Reddy and additional chief secretary (development) Viswajeet Khanna said the government had already identified 5.63 lakh farmers who had taken loan of nearly Rs 2,700 crore from cooperative institutions as on March 31, 2017, as beneficiaries in the first of four planned phases.
In this phase, verified marginal farmers (owning up to 2.5 acres) would be handed over debt relief certificates.
In the second phase, record of small farmers (owning more than 2.5 and up to 5 acres) would be verified. Khanna said loans taken from nationalised and private banks would be settled thereafter.
The party too sprung into action. State Congress chief and MP Sunil Jakhar too addressed the media to dispel apprehensions on the number of beneficiaries.
He appealed to the opposition SAD and AAP not to “mislead” people. “No eligible farmer will be left out of the scheme, and no ineligible farmer will get its benefit. It is only the beginning, not the end of the debt waiver. Our economy is agri-based, and our coffers are not robust. Yet, the CM wants to fulfil the poll promise and not delay it.”
Taking on the Akalis, he said, “It is they who pushed farmers to suicides by selling fake seeds and pesticides. Instead of protesting, the Akalis should
go to their ally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and seek relief for farmers.”
He added, “Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, in a reply in the Lok Sabha, quoted a
report of former governors of the Reserve Bank of India to rule out debt waiver. He said that such a waiver destroys credit culture. They are not worried about destroying farming!
The Centre is in denial mode on farmers being under distress despite many reports suggesting it. We (Congress) should get credit for keeping our word.”
KHAIRA TO LEAD AAP CADRES WITH BLACK FLAGS; ACTIVISTS OF BKUUGRAHAN TOO SET TO REACH THE VENUE; POLICE ON TOES