In a major relief, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh led state government has waived off debt worth Rs. 78.48 crore of 41308 labourers and landless farming members of the district under fifth phase of Debt Relief Scheme. Participating in a virtual launch event, MLA Surinder Chaudhry, Mayor Jagdish Raj Raja, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori on Friday launched the fifth phase of this scheme in Jalandhar by distributing cheques to beneficiaries. Hailing this unique initiative, they said that the debt relief scheme started by the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh was instrumental in heralding the ‘golden era’ for the farmers’ of the state. They said that this was an unprecedented step aimed at mitigating the woes of the farming community, who were facing a lot of problems due to the debt trap. They said that an outstanding debt of Rs. 78.48 crore of 41308 labourers and landless farming members has been waived off by the state government adding that a sum of Rs. 64.22 crore as principal loan amount and Rs. 14.25 crore as interest was being waived off. Pointing our further, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said that of total 78.48 crore, a sum of Rs. 9.64 crore belongs to labourers and landless farming members of Nakodar constituency, followed by Rs. 17.23 crore, 11.51, 15.76, 15.10, 6.75, 0.89, and Rs.1.59 crore of Shahkot, Phillaur, Adampur, Kartarpur, Jalandhar Cantt, Jalandhar Central, and Jalandhar North assembly constituencies respectively. Likewise, 6109, 9477, 6156, 7699, 7405, 3177, 509, and 776 beneficiaries from Nakodar, Shahkot, Phillaur, Adampur, Kartarpur, Jalandhar Cantt, Jalandhar Central, and Jalandhar North constituencies have received benefit under this fifth phase.
Meanwhile, MLA, Mayor and DC jointly kick-started symbolic disbursement benefits to beneficiaries by handing over cheques from each assembly constituency. They also said that the fifth phase of the debt relief scheme would eliminate the pangs of the farming community and provide a helping hand to them. They also hailed the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh for taking this historic step to guide the destiny of the farming community. Beneficiaries who received cheques during the event included Ranjit Kumar of Shekhe village with a debt of Rs. 32245, Kuldeep Chand (31189) of Kaboolrpur, Joginder Singh (23820) of Ladhewali, Karnail Singh (23730) of Ladhewali, Nirmal Singh (29705), Palvinder Singh (21396) of Bhode Saprai, Sadhu Singh (22110), Joginder Singh (27696) from Nagra, Harbans Singh (25708) of Tut Kalan, Gurmit Singh of Saidpur, Charanjit Singh (15472) Parkash Kaur (21927) of Lassara, Pritpal Singh (25743), Shiv Ram (23506) from Adampur, Mangal Singh (26828), and Ram Singh (11952) from Gidderpindi. Thanking Punjab Government for this relief, Shiv Ram a beneficiary from Adampur said that he has been working as a farm labourer for decades and his debt worth Rs. 23506 has been waived off during today's event. He lauded the state government's efforts for paying special attention towards labourer community which was worst hit during Covid-19 pandemic adding this effort would go a long way in uplifting the weaker section of the society.Prominent among others present on the occasion included Senior Congress Leader Sukhwinder Singh Lali, Councillor Jasleen Sethi, Additional Deputy Commissioner Amarjeet Singh Bains, Joint Registrar Cooperative Societies Dr. Jagjit Singh, District Manager Satnam Singh Padda, and youth congress leader Angad Dutta.