Debt relief for Punjab farmers

The Punjab government has identified another 3.26 lakh marginal farmers who will be provided debt relief this month.

The grant of debt relief to farmers is part of the government’s efforts to complete the entire process of farm loan relief to 10.25 lakh farmers before November this year.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday directed officials to expedite relief disbursement among the beneficiaries identified for waiver of loans.

The chief minister said so far debt relief to 2.02 lakh marginal farmers of cooperative institutions has been released under the scheme.

Singh reiterated his government’s commitment to fulfill its poll promise on debt waiver for farmers, irrespective of the financial constraints faced by the state. “Adequate funds were being arranged to provide relief to the burdened farmers”, he added.

In the next phase, farmers who had availed crop loan from public sector banks and other commercial banks would be covered under the scheme.

The finance department has been holding meetings with state-level bankers’ committee to procure data of such banks to ascertain the eligibility of farmers.

Once the data is in place, the loan amount would be released to these banks with the government committed to the complete roll-out of the scheme by October 31, this year.