MP govt accepts delay in farm loan waiver

Madhya Pradesh Minister Govind Singh on Monday admitted that Chief Minister Kamal Nath-led government in the state had failed in fulfilling its promise of farm loan waiver on time as was announced by then Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

"Rahul Gandhi had declared farm loan waiver within 10 days and the Chief Minister (Kamal Nath) gave the order regarding it immediately after taking the oath," said Singh here at a press conference.

Last year in Mandsaur, Gandhi had announced that if Congress comes to power it would waive loans of farmers within 10 days of taking charge.

Thus, Congress in its manifesto had also promised to write-off farm loans of up to Rs 2 lakh.

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had slammed the Congress-led state government for not waiving off farmer loans, even though Gandhi had claimed it would be done within 10 days of coming to power. "On one hand the Congress government here is claiming that they have waived off the loans of all the farmers. However, farmers are still receiving notices for not paying their debts. I appeal to the state government and Chief Minister Kamal Nath that they should satisfy the farmers rather than showing documents to me that money has been paid to the banks," Chouhan had told media here.

Chouhan's statement came after a Congress delegation led by former Union Minister and Congress leader Suresh Pachouri reached his residence with documents containing details of farmers whose loans had been waived off by the state government.