Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has cleared 1.15 lakh more cases for debt waiver amounting to Rs 580 crore, to be disbursed to farmers across the state before January 31, 2018.The announcement came on Wednesday after a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, which reviewed the progress of the implementation of the farm debt waiver scheme, formally launched by the state government on January 7 with the disbursement of waiver certificates to nearly 47000 farmers from five districts.With the completion of disbursement of waiver certificates to these 1.15 lakh farmers, the state government would have covered 1.6 lakh small and marginal farmers with a loan amount of Rs 748 crores.Giving details, an official spokesperson said after today’s meeting that the modalities of the disbursement were being worked out. The meeting was in favour of public presentation of the certificates so that the farmers are not misled on any count by the opposition or certain kisan unions seeking to promote their vested interests through false propaganda.The Chief Minister, said the spokesperson, had directed the concerned officials to ensure that the disbursement process is handled smoothly and no eligible farmer is left out. Captain Amarinder had also instructed the officials to ensure rectification of any technical errors, such as names being misspelt, and plug any loopholes that might obstruct the efficient implementation of the scheme at any stage.
Captain Amarinder made it clear that no lapses in this regard would be tolerated. He directed senior officials to personally monitor and supervise the entire process, said the spokesperson. The government was committed to implementing the scheme in letter and in spirit, he added.In the first phase, the government is waiving off loans taken from cooperative institutions, for which a total of 5.63 lakh have been identified for relief to the tune of Rs 2700 crores. The entire process would be completed in four phases, with commercial private and nationalized banks to be covered after the cooperative loans.The Chief Minister has already made it clear that the interests of the farm labourers would also be taken care of once the state’s fiscal condition stabilizes.Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Power Minister Rana Gurjit, Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral were present in the meeting, which was also attended by Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Principal Secretary Tejvir Singh, Special Secretary Gurkirat Kirpal Singh, Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Viswajeet Khanna, Additional Chief Secretary (Cooperation) DP Reddy. Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Sunil Jakhar was also present.