Not withdrawing free power to farmers: Amarinder
Thursday, 15/03/2018
https://dailypost.in/news/punjab/withdrawing-free-power-farmers-amarinder/
Nakodar (Jalandhar) – Lashing out at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for trying to mislead the citizens of the state, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday promised total implementation of his party’s election promise on farm debt waiver while categorically ruling out any move to withdraw free power for agriculture. Captain Amarinder was addressing the farming community at a programme to issue debt waiver certificates amounting to Rs 162.16 crore to 29,192 farmers at the Dana Mandi here, in the second stage of waiver of loans for the state’s 10.25 lakh small and marginal farmers. Eligible farmers from five districts, namely Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Fazilka and Ferozepur, got their loan waiver certificates on Wednesday.
Describing the distribution of the certificate as part of the fulfilment of the election promise made to the farmers by the Congress, the Chief Minister assured the farmers that the slight delay in the matter was the result not of funds paucity but the fact that the procedure for identification and verification of the eligible farmers, along with their loan amount, was taking some time. However, he made it clear that he was totally committed to implementing the promise of debt waiver, which he had made ahead of the assembly elections after hearing of farmer suicides in every place he visited.
Assailing the Akalis for spreading brazen lies and indulging in blatantly false propaganda against his government on the issue of tubewell meters, the Chief Minister ruled out any proposal to withdraw free power for farmers. His government had only provided meters to 900 of the 13.5 lakh tubewells in the state as part of a research project aimed at saving ground water while ensuring that the farmers also get an incentive in the form of cash savings for their personal use. He further explained this by pointing out that if a farmer is given Rs 10,000 against his tubewell power consumption and ends up spending Rs 7,000 then not only will the remaining Rs 3,000 go into his pocket but he will also contribute to saving the declining ground water level in the state.
The SAD were trying to create misconceptions in the mind of the people by making false allegations against the Congress over the issue, said Captain Amarinder Singh, asserting that there was no question of anyone making money from these meters. Instead of appreciating the efforts of his government, the Akalis were indulging in deceit and accusations, said Captain Amarinder Singh, urging the people not to get misled by the Akalis, who were hand-in-glove with the BJP and were only interested in filling their pockets at the cost of Punjab’s economy. The nexus between the two parties was evident from the fact that the Akali leadership had started plying buses in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh ever since the BJP took over in that state, he added.
The Chief Minister also took on Harsimrat Kaur Badal for her total failure to protect Punjab’s and the farmers’ interests in the Centre, of which she was a part, alleging that she did not raise her voice even though the BJP government at the Centre failed to take any steps in the budget for the farming community pointing out that the NDA government had failed to implement the Swaminathan Report, which was the only way to help the farmers boost their income and bring the agriculture sector out of the doldrums into which it had been plunged.
