Rs 590 crore Loan Waiver of Landless Farmers and Workers in Punjab Begins

Under the farm debt relief scheme, Punjab government has decided to waive loans worth Rs.590 crore for laborers of farm and the landless farming community.

The decision was made at a meeting attended by Finance Minister of Punjab - Manpreet Singh Badal, Cooperation Minister of Punjab - Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture) -  Anirudh Tewari and Financial Commissioner (Punjab)- K. Siva Prasad.

Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh is going to launch the disbursal of dept waiver and cheques virtually to beneficiaries in their respective districts. In a state-level function which is going to take place on August 20 (birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) at that occasion beneficiaries will be handed over cheques.

According to the resources the waiver, up to Rs.20,000 per  beneficiary will be provided over to farmers or laborers who have availed loans from district cooperative banks for being member of primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACC). Accordingly Rs.520 crore is going to be extended to 2.85 lakh landless farmers and laborers. On the other hand the remaining would be given to 7,600 beneficiaries who belong to scheduled castes and backward classes.

Entirely, the states government has launched a debt waiver of Rs.4624 crore to 5.64 lakh small and marginal farmers.

Gurpreet Singh Kangar, Punjab revenue minister said, “Minister will provide the waiver to beneficiaries in the districts”.

MK Aravind Kumar, Muktsar deputy commissioner, who also hold charge of Bathinda district, said proper clarifications are still required but there is no doubt that the programme of debt waiver would be launched on August 20. 8,900 beneficiaries in Bathinda will be provided a debt waiver of Rs.14.11 crore

The state government still has not finalized the schedule for handing over appointment letters to farmers who lost their life during the protest against the farm laws passed by the Centre last year.