Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday announced crop loan waiver of up to Rs 200,000 for farmers who own up to 5 acres of agriculture land and a flat relief of Rs 200,000 for all other marginal farmers, irrespective of the loan amount. The move would cost the
state £2.40 billion, according to an estimate. Making the announcement in the Vidhan Sabha, the chief minister said the move would benefit a total of 1025,000 farmers, including 875,000 farmers owning up to 5 acres. It would provide double the relief announced by Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, he said.
Making it clear that his government stood by its commitment to waive the loans of farmers, Amarinder said his government has also decided to take over outstanding crop loan “from institutional sources” of all families of farmers who committed suicide in the state. It has also decided to raise the ex gratia for suicide-affected families to Rs 500,000 from the existing Rs 300,000.
The decisions are based on the interim report of an expert group headed by economist T Haque that was tasked with suggesting ways and means to help the state’s distressed farming community, said a statement. The government has decided to review the Punjab Settlement of Agriculture Indebtedness Act, 2016 to “provide the desired relief to farmers through mutual acceptable debt reconciliation and settlement, which shall be statutorily binding on both the lender and the borrower.” Amarinder told the House that his government had decided to repeal Section 67 A of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, which provides for auction/kurki of farmers land (auction of mortgaged land). The CM also reiterated the government’s commitment to provide free power to farmers but appealed to all big and well-to-do farmers of the state to give up power subsidy voluntarily.
