Dr T Haque meets delegations of farmers at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana Tuesday. Gurmeet Singh
After announcing a loan waiver of Rs 9,500 crore for 10.25 lakh farmers, Punjab is now considering to waive interest incurred on loans by all the 14.50 lakh farmers in the state, which is around Rs 3,000 crore.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is learnt to have asked Dr T Haque expert committee to study and work out the details to find out if the cash-strapped government can afford to extend the interest waiver on loans taken between October 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017. Amarinder chaired a meeting of the committee on Tuesday.
Dr Haque had earlier met delegations of farmers in Amritsar and Ludhiana, where the farmers demanded that since the state had not provided a waiver to all of them, it should at least waive the interest on their loans. Several farmers had failed to pay back their loan after the waiver promise made by the government.
The CM is also learnt to have directed the committee to also work out whether the government would waive loan on only one account of farmers or their multiple accounts. The government has announced a loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for each of 10.25 lakh farmers having land holdings up to 5 acres. It is yet to be decided whether the government will waive Rs 2 lakh of every farmer, irrespective of number of loan accounts he held, or a single account of farmer’s choice. In all likelihood, the government would be going ahead with a waiver on single account.
As per data available with the government, every farmer has at least two accounts, sources said.
Dr Haque committee would submit its report on August 17. The government wants the committee to fix the eligibility criterion of the farmers. “There is a lot of anxiety among the farmers. They do not know who all would be getting the waiver. We want to end that,” said a government official.
