Amarinder asks farmers not to worry about farm loans

Chandigarh, June 29 (IANS) With his government drawing flak for not fulfilling the election promise of complete loan waiver for beleaguered farmers in Punjab, state Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday made it clear that the farmers whose loans had been waived off in the recent budget stood immediately exempt from repayment of their debts.

Addressing a meeting of various organisations of farmer here, the Chief Minister assured them that his government would engage with them in a continuous dialogue to resolve the crises.

He said the government was committed to waiving off the loans of the farmers, "even though the state's debt burden had turned out to be much higher than anticipated".

Amarinder asserted that his government would fulfill each of the 49-point agenda for farmers in the Congress poll manifesto to make agriculture profitable.

The meeting was informed that the process of loan waiver as announced in the budget would start within two months.

With all the organisations urging the state government to push the central government into implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report without further delay, Amarinder assured them that this was high on his agenda and he would do everything in his power to alleviate the sufferings of the farmers.

He said that the Punjab government would continue to pressurise the Centre for implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.

"A cabinet sub-committee had already been formed to speak to the arthiyas to resolve the issue of non-institutional loans," Amarinder told the farmers while responding to concerns expressed on this count.

The Punjab government made a budget allocation of only Rs 1,500 crore for this year (2017-18) against a loan of nearly Rs 90,000 crore outstanding against debt-ridden Punjab farmers.

The opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal have condemned the Amarinder Singh government for not fulfilling the complete loan waiver promise.