Amarinder Singh rubbishes opposition claims on farmer suicides

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today rejected as false and motivated the claims by opposition parties that suicide cases by farmers had doubled since June, and said his government would soon issue a notification to formally implement the farm loan waiver.
Singh said the state's Congress government did not want to engage with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) or the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in a game of numbers on the critical issue.
The chief minister said the notification to implement the farm loan waiver would be issued in the next few days after the government finalises modalities for the programme.

Pointing out that the Akalis had failed to initiate a single step to waive the loans, he said his government would deliver the promises made to the farmers.
The ball for the waiver of loans of up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers with up to 5 acres of land, and payment of Rs 2 lakh to
other small and marginal farmers, had been set rolling in June when the announcement was made in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Singh said.

He claimed that misleading statements by the opposition for political gains were pushing them towards suicide.
Citing government data, he said a total of 997 farmer suicides were reported from March 2007 to March 2017, when the SAD-BJP regime was in power.

Of these, 155 took place between January and December 2015, and 225 in 2016 - the last two years of the Badal rule.
The Punjab chief minister challenged the opposition to not make senseless charges based on fabrications.
By indulging in such blatant lies on a sensitive issue, the opposition was playing with the sentiments and the lives of farmers, he said.
Meanwhile, Singh has reiterated his demand for bonus of Rs 100 per quintal on paddy procurement from the central government to incentivize farmers not to burn paddy straw.
The chief minister has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking incentives for farmers to dissuade them from burning paddy straw.