· CM DIRECTS MINISTERS TO HOLD FUNCTIONS TO EXPEDITE RELIEF DISBURSEMENT
· ASSURES ROLL-OUT OF SCHEME FOR FARMERS WITH BANK LOANS BY OCT 31
Chandigarh, May 10: The Punjab government has identified 3.26 lakh marginal farmers for issuance of debt relief farmers during the month of May, as part of its efforts to complete the entire process of farm loan relief to 10.25 lakh farmers before November this year.
Disclosing details of the progress of the debt relief scheme, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday directed officials of the concerned departments to hold Tehsil-level functions to expedite relief disbursement among the beneficiaries identified for waiver of loans from cooperative banks. The chief minister said that ministers and party MLAs will hand over loan waiver certificates to the beneficiaries at the Tehsil level functions.
In the next phase, said the Chief Minister, farmers who had availed crop loan from public sector banks and other commercial banks would be covered under the scheme. The Finance Department had been holding meetings with State Level Bankers’ Committee to procure data of such banks to ascertain the eligibility of their farmers, he added. Once the data is in place, the loan amount would be released to these banks, with the Government committed to the complete roll-out of the scheme by 31st October, 2018, he added.
According to an official spokesperson, the Chief Minister noted that so far, debt relief to 2.02 lacs marginal farmers of Cooperative Institutions, to the tune of Rs. 999.97 lacs, had been released under the scheme notified by his government on October 17 last year.
The Chief Minister pointed out that in a bid to further simplify the scheme, the Government had issued another notification on February 16, 2018, to facilitate the release of debt relief in case of death of the farmers, NRI cases and to the farmers who do not have an Aadhar card. Now such cases shall be settled by a committee under the supervision of concerned SDM, he added.
The Chief Minister reiterated his government’s commitment to fulfill its poll promise on debt waiver for farmers, irrespective of the financial constraints faced by the state. Adequate funds were being arranged to provide relief to the burdened farmers, he added.