Captain comes out with roadmap for farmers’ debt

Friday, 09/09/2016

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Bathinda : Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday spelt out the plan about waiving off the debt of farmers.

He also told the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that if he was incompetent and unable to waive off the debts, did not mean others were also like him and will not be able to waive off the farmers’ debts.

Addressing a ‘Kisan Chetna Dharna’ organised by the party’s Kisan Cell here on Thursday, Capt Amarinder allayed the apprehensions about the feasibility of the debt waiver in view of Punjab’s precarious financial situation.

He said, the farmers’ debt waiver was also the national policy of the Congress. He pointed out, the massive fall in the crude oil prices in the international market had saved the country about Rs 3 lakh crore as the Central government did not provide and pass on the corresponding proportionate benefit to the consumers.

“We are asking the Prime Minister Modi to spare some money from this huge amount for providing debt relief to the farmers,” he said, while asserting that it is the duty of everyone including the government of India to save the farmers from committing suicide.

“It is a tragedy that the same farmers who at one time provided food to the nation are now dying of starvation as they cannot make both ends meet”, he said, while guaranteeing that come way, the farmers’ debts will be taken over by the government. Reacting to Badal’s claims that nobody can waive off farmers loans and that he (Capt Amarinder) was misleading them (the farmers) about it, Capt Amarinder told him, “just because you are incompetent and incapable doesn’t mean everyone else is and I will show how it is done”. He pointed out during his previous tenure he had waived off all the loans taken from cooperative banks. He said, while he was in the process of working out a solution with the public sector banks, he lost power and Badal took over and he never bothered to follow it up.

Capt Amarinder justified the loan waiver saying agriculture was the pivot of the economy. “When farmer will be prosperous only then the labourers working for him will proposer and so will the arthiyas,” he said, while adding, the economic chain will continue. “If agriculture will collapse, as it is threatening to, the entire economic edifice will crumble down and we are already having the warning signals”, he warned.

Congress general secretary and the chairperson of the Campaign Committee Ambika Soni said, while the Akali-BJP alliance was on the way out people must beware of the AAP.

She warned people against the alluring promises made by the Aam Aadmi Party. She said, the party had completely been exposed with one scandal being revealed after another. She said, it was disgusting how some AAP leaders are alleged to have exploited women workers in Punjab.