Cong seeks loan waiver for farmers
Thursday, 02/10/2014
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=115891&boxid=58742&uid=&dat=2014-10-02
Chandigarh: Seeking loan waiver for farmers, the Punjab Congress on Wednesday called on Punjab Governor Shivraj Vishwanath Patil and demanded the Centre to provide compensation for families of those farmers who committed suicide.
A delegation of Punjab Congress, led by state unit president Partap Singh Bajwa along with BKU president Bhupinder Singh Mann submitted a memorandum to the Governor in support of their demands, here on Wednesday afternoon.
The Centre should waive farmers’ loans which was done by the previous UPA government, said the delegation. “The government should ensure remunerative prices for farm produce by fixing MSP on the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission which provides for 50 per cent profit over and above the cost of production,” it said.
The main Opposition party also pressed for Rs 5,000 per acre as drought relief, saying the amount of Rs 420 per acre announced by the government was nothing, but a ‘cruel joke’.
Taking up the problems faced by the farmers in the border areas, the party impressed upon the government to announce compensation at the rate of Rs 10,000 per acre to farmers whose lands were between the barbed wire fencing and the international border or alternatively, these lands should be acquired by the government.DP
