Chief Minister Amarinder Singh hands over certificates to farmers at a function to mark the official launch of farm debt waiver scheme (left); farmer unions stage a protest in Mansa. Gurmeet Singh
PUNJAB CHIEF Minister Captain Amarinder Singh Sunday handed over certificates to 10 farmers from Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar, Moga and Bathinda, to officially begin the farm debt waiver process in the state. The list covered in the first phase included 47,000 farmers of these five districts with land-holding of less than two-and-a-half acres. But as the CM officially rolled out the debt waiver scheme from Dana Mandi in Mansa district, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) organised a sit-in protest barely 2 km away from this place.
AAP leaders took out a protest march and nearly 150 of them were detained at around 11 am and kept at Joga police station about 20 km away from the venue. They were released after CM left the venue at 3 pm. In his speech, Amarinder lambasted the Akalis, AAP and farmer unions for indulging in false propaganda on the farm debt waiver promise, which his government had started implementing from five districts on Sunday. He announced that the next target will be to waive debt of khet mazdoors and even to fulfil the promise of providing one job to every household as announced in poll manifesto. “Employment to the youth and farm labourers will be my next target,” he said.
In his speech, Amarinder cited figures to point out that his government had announced higher loan waiver than other states, including the BJP ruled ones. He said, “Despite huge financial constraints faced by us, we have started implementing the scheme ( up to 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers). We were the first ones to announce debt waiver which was followed by Maharashtra (up to Rs 1.5 lakh), UP (up to Rs 1 lakh), Rajasthan(up to Rs 50,000) MP (up to Rs 1 lakh) and Karnataka ( up to Rs 50,000). It was a major promise done by us which we have fulfilled.”
He added: “We are facing extreme financial constraints , but are generating resources from our own means to bail out the farmers. We have started with 47,000 farmers from Moga, Faridkot, Mansa, Bathinda and Muktsar and all the 10.25 lakh farmers will be covered in this scheme in four phases.”
Amarinder said, “I along with (Finance Minister) Manpreet made several visits to seek financial support from Union government. However, we did not get any and rather generated our own resources and it did not deter us to fulfil our vital promise made to the farmers….We will be fulfilling our next promise of providing debt waiver to Khet Mazdoors and even will be working on our promise ‘har ghar ek naukri’.”
At the farmers’ dharna, Ram Singh Bhainibagha, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), Mansa district, said, “Not all farmers have been included in this list, and hence it is a an eyewash done by the CM and his team. We are protesting to send a message. We will also be doing day and night dharnas from January 22 to January 26 at district level across the state on the same issue.”
But just two km away, the Chief Minister stressed: “No eligible farmer will be excluded from the waiver exercise.”
Amarinder said: “Some farmers might have got left out due to technical errors. These issues were being resolved and those who still have complaints should approach their respective SDMs or DCs, whom I have personally directed to resolve any such issues at the earliest.”
But Leader of opposition Sukhpal Khaira, who was detained by police along with MLAs Nazar Singh, Aman Arora and several other AAP leaders, said, “The lists of debt waiver is a cruel joke on the farmers. Debt waiver of as low as Rs 3 has been done…So how will this help the farmers. They have not fulfilled their promise in true letter and spirit and we will continue to be with farmers so as to expose the government.”
At the government’s debt waiver event, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, PPCC President Sunil Jakhar also spoke about the scheme. Jakhar said, “Unlike other parties and leaders, the Congress does not indulge in ‘jumley ki rajneeti’ (politics of false claims),” he added. Pointing out that former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh waived loans worth Rs 90,000 crore, Jakhar said Captain Amarinder had set the ball rolling in Punjab, forcing other states, including Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, to follow in his footsteps.
Barnala farmer suicide
As Amarinder attacked farmer unions in his speech, he also spoke about the suicide of Barnala-based farmer Kulwant Singh on Saturday. It was alleged that Kulwant had committed suicide after his name was not included in the list of beneficiaries for the loan waiver. Amarinder, however, said, “It was false propaganda done by opposition parties and some of the unions. He denied any such suicide on account of non-inclusion of the farmer’s name in the waiver list. He said, “His father’s name was included in the list and hence it was fraudulent campaign launched by opposition due to vested interests.”
Road repair on fast track
The CM said that Punjab will witness repair of 16000 km link roads for which Rs 2000 crore had already been released. This is a new year gift to the farmers, he said. The repair work will be completed by March 2019. Repair of roads was much needed and it had not been done since 2010, announced Amarinder.