Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today asked the leaders of the farmers' unions to stop "misleading" the farmers with "false" statements on loan waiver, the process for which, he said, had already been initiated by his government.
He said this in a statement issued here a day after various farmers' unions launched a protest on the outskirts of Patiala, alleging that the state government's farm loan waiver scheme would only benefit a small number of farmers.
Singh claimed that "baseless" charges were being levelled against his government by certain "politically motivated" leaders of farmers' unions.
The loan waiver scheme, which was "set to be notified soon, following a cabinet approval", would benefit 10.25 lakh of the 13 lakh farming families who took bank loans, the chief minister said and pointed out that the figures accounted for nearly 80 per cent of the borrowers in the farming community in the state, which comprised over 17 lakh families.
Contrary to what the farmers' union leaders, "clearly instigated by certain opposition parties", were trying to project, the government's loan waiver scheme would positively impact the majority of the small and marginal farmers of the state, leaving out only the big farmers, who would be covered in the next phase, he added.
The waiver amount announced by his government was also "way above" those announced by Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka, despite the fact that Punjab's financial condition was "much worse" compared to these states, Singh claimed.
Unlike the other states, in Punjab, loans of up to Rs 2 lakh would be waived for farmers holding up to five acres of land, he said, adding that an outright relief of Rs 2 lakh each would also be given to the small and marginal farmers, irrespective of their loan amounts.
States such as Rajasthan and Karnataka had announced a mere Rs-50,000 loan waiver for the farmers, Singh said.
He added that Punjab's loan waiver scheme had a retrospective effect, from the date of its announcement in the Assembly till the date of its notification.
The government had already prepared a detailed list of farmers with the exact amounts of their loans, to be benefited in the first phase of the scheme, which would be implemented as soon as the notification was issued, the chief minister said.
The state cabinet had already approved the notification, which was now awaiting a clearance from the Election Commission (EC), he added.
The notification has been sent to the poll panel in view of the Model Code of Conduct being in force on account of the October 11 Gurdaspur Lok Sabha by-election.
The officials concerned in the departments of agriculture and finance had been working closely with the banks since the farm loan waiver scheme was announced in June, to prepare the list of the farmers to be covered in the first phase, Singh said.
The groundwork had already been completed and the process of waiver would start as soon as the notification was issued, he said, while urging the farmers not to be incited by "false and baseless claims and allegations of the opposition parties and some of their union leaders, working at the behest of these parties".
The chief minister said it was a "matter of weeks" for the process to begin and appealed to the farmers not to resort to any extreme measures such as committing suicide out of desperation.
A committee led by senior Congress leader Lal Singh had also started taking cognisance of the farmers' grievances, Singh said, adding that it would address the issues on an urgent basis.
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