3.26 lakh farmers identified for debt relief

The Punjab government said it has identified 3.26 lakh farmers for debt relief during the month of May.

This is part of the government's efforts to complete the process of farm loan relief to 10.25 lakh marginal farmers before November this year.

Disclosing details of the progress of the debt relief scheme, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh directed officials of the concerned departments to hold Tehsil-level functions to expedite relief disbursement among the beneficiaries identified for the loan waiver from cooperative banks.

The chief minister said that ministers and party MLAs will hand over loan waiver certificates to the beneficiaries at the Tehsil level functions.

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

The Finance Department had been holding meetings with state level bankers' committee to procure data of such banks to ascertain the eligibility of the farmers, he added.

Once the data is in place, the loan amount would be released to these banks, with the government committed to complete roll-out of the scheme by October 31, 2018, he added.

The chief minister pointed out that in a bid to further simplify the scheme, the government had issued another notification on February 16, 2018, to facilitate the release of debt relief in case of death of the farmers, NRI cases and to the farmers who do not have an Aadhaar card.

Now such cases shall be settled by a committee under the supervision of concerned SDM, he added.

The chief minister reiterated his government's commitment to fulfil 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.