Capt meets PM, FM to seek support on farm debt waiver
Wednesday, 09/08/2017
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URGES CENTRE TO ENHANCE BORROWING LIMIT TO ENABLE PUNJAB MEET ITS DEBT WAIVER COMMITMENTS
CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday urged the Centre to relax the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003, and enhance the borrowing limit to enable the state meet its agricultural debt waiver commitments.
In separate meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley here, the CM sought their intervention to initiate these measures to support the financially beleaguered state. He called upon them to enhance the borrowing limit by ₹10,000 crore to help the state government procure additional market loans for the debt waiver/relief scheme.
EXPRESSES HOPE OF ‘POSITIVE INTERVENTION’
Amarinder later expressed the hope of “positive intervention” by the central government to help the state in rescuing Punjab’s farmers from the vicious cycle of debt.
A spokesperson for the CMO said the CM pointed out during the meetings that his government has waived off crop loans up to ₹2 lakh for all small and marginal farmers, while providing debt relief up to ₹2 lakh to marginal farmers having a total debt of over ₹2 lakh each.
Besides, the state government has also decided to take over the total debt of suicide-affected families. With a total of 10.25 lakh beneficiaries, the financial implication of these steps is to the tune of ₹9,500 crore, the CM said. Punjab finance minister Manpreet Badal and some senior officials accompanied the CM at his meeting with Jaitley.
