Punjab waives Rs 590 crore farm debt loans

Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh has announced waiver of Rs 590 crore worth of loans under the farm debt waiver scheme for labourers and the landless farming community, an official statement said on Wednesday.

This would pave the way for the fulfilment of another key promise of his government.

The cheques would be issued at a state-level function on August 20.

The government will pay off loans to the tune of Rs 590 crore of 285,325 members of the Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies (PACS), thus ensuring a relief of Rs 20,000 per member, said the statement quoting the chief minister.

He directed the Finance and Cooperation Departments to kick off the process for effective implementation of the decision on the ground.

The state government has formulated a Debt Relief Scheme for farm labourers and landless farming members of PACS, which will cover only consumption loan to the members advanced by district central cooperative banks of Punjab through primary agricultural cooperative societies.

The chief minister's announcements follow the waiver of the loans of farmers under the chief minister's flagship 'Debt Waiver Scheme.'

So far, loans of Rs 4,624 crore have been waived of 5.64 lakh farmers under the scheme, which was announced as part of the 2017 poll promises by the Punjab Congress.

In addition, loans of the Scheduled Caste and Backward Class categories have been written off up to Rs 50,000 each, including waiver up to Rs 58.39 crore of 6,405 beneficiaries by the Scheduled Caste Corporation and Rs 20.71 crore of 1,225 beneficiaries by the Backward Class Corporation.