Waiver: Commercial banks next, says govt

Tribune News Service

Moga, May 4

Asking the farming community not to commit suicides under distress of mounting loans, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Brahm Mohindra gave away loan-waiver certificates, up to Rs 2 lakh each, to debt-ridden farmers owing less than 2.5 acres in Moga on Friday.

As many as 6,615 farmers of Moga district will benefit from the scheme. Loans taken from cooperative banks and cooperative societies — amounting to Rs 31.86 crore — by these farmers have been waived by the state.

Earlier also, the state government had waived loans of thousands of farmers from the district. So far, the loans worth Rs 82.98 crore of 19,882 farmers have been waived off by the state government.

Speaking on the occasion, Mohindra announced that after waiving off the loans from cooperative banks, the government, in the second phase, will waive off loans taken by small and marginal farmers from commercial banks up to Rs 2 lakh each. “We are in the process of preparing the lists of commercial banks and will finalise it in the next couple of months,” he said.

Promising to bring revolutionary changes in the agro-sector, the minister said: “We stand by our commitment to help the small and marginal farmers by all possible means. We are working to uplift the socio-economic status of the farmers,” he said.”

Addressing the media, Brahm Mohindra lashed out at the unscrupulous elements spreading “wrong information” against the MR vaccination campaign on the social media. He said a legal action would be taken against them.

Though local Congress MLAs were present, sources said Manjit Singh Bilaspur, AAP MLA from Nihalsinghwala constituency was not invited.