Chandigarh: Former Faridkot legislator Mantar Singh Brar today demanded strict action against politicians and officers who had connived to mischievously add his mother’s name in the list of beneficiaries under the Congress government’s partial crop loan waiver scheme despite the fact that she was ineligible for the same.
In a statement here, Mantar Brar said a criminal case of forgery under section 420 should be registered against Faridkot politicians and officers who had forcefully included his mother Manjit Kaur as a beneficiary despite the fact that she was receiving pension. “Moreover my mother never applied for the scheme nor did she submit any affidavit to avail the same. She will not accept any money from the government under this scheme and our family appeals to the government to cover any genuine beneficiaries instead of resorting to such cheap tactics to steer clear from implementing a complete loan waiver. This smacks of a political conspiracy to defame the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). I demand an inquiry to unmask this perfidy and will be writing to chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh also to demand a thorough inquiry into the entire issue”.
The Akali leader said the inquiry should also investigate the role of Congress leaders of Faridkot who had sounded off the media that his mother, who was receiving pension of his late father and legislator Jaswinder Singh Brar, was on the beneficiary list. “Few other Akali leaders including SGPC member Sukhdev Singh Baht, have also informed me that the name of their family members have been included in the beneficiary list without their knowledge. We will not let Congressmen distract attention from their abject failure to implement a complete loan waiver of Rs 90,000 crore through this malicious act. In fact according to my information the kith and kin of Congress leaders have benefitted the most from the crop loan waiver scheme with many of them being included in it despite not being eligible for the same. I will come out with a list of these leaders soon and expose their plot to defame the SAD”.
Brar also asked the Congress party not to deceive farmers by resorting to such diversionary tactics. He said the Congress government should first explain why it had not implemented the Rs 90,000 crore complete loan waiver as promised by Capt Amarinder Singh as PCC president. He said Punjab farmers had been promised loan waiver encompassing loans taken from national and cooperative banks as well as private money lenders. “Nothing of this sort happened. A half baked scheme which leaves out 90 per cent of the distressed farmers has been devised by Congressmen purely for photo ops so that they can befool the peasantry. “The truth is that more than five hundred farmers have committed suicides in the last nearly two years. The Congress government has failed to even provide the promised Rs 10 lakh compensation and a government job to the families of the suicide victims, what to talk about waiving off their loans”, Mr Brar added.