Farmers Movement Archive

Farmer leaders meet Punjab CM Channi, stick to complete debt waiver demand

Representatives of 32 farm organisations from Punjab on Thursday met chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and refused to make any concession on their demand for a complete debt waiver for farmers. According to an estimate, the state farmers are under a debt of ₹90,000 crore. In the meeting, Channi offered to release pending ₹1,200 crore to clear the loans up to ₹2 lakh under the existing debt waiver scheme. The government, he said, will cover 1.09 lakh farmers in small and marginal category and amount will be waived in 10-12 days. Jagmohan Singh, general secretary of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakounda), which was part of the 32 unions that met the CM, said, “We want complete debt waiver as Channi promised in the previous meeting with farmer leaders last month.”Key farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal and Joginder SIngh Ugrahan were among those who attended the meeting. Channi announced to bring small and marginal farmers with landholdings up to 5 acres, who have taken loans up to ₹2 lakh from the Punjab State Cooperative Agriculture Development Bank (PSCADB), within the ambit of debt waiver scheme. The unions also demanded cancellation of the FIRs registered against farmers during the agitation against the 3 farm laws, compensation for land acquired for highways and toll-free movement of their vehicles. The CM promised to cancel all the FIRs registered by the Punjab Police against the farmers protesting against the farm laws by December 31 and issued directions to the director general of police (DGP) to complete the formalities. Terming it a “good meeting”, Channi assured the farmers that he will talk to Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari for increase in compensation for land acquired by the Centre for highway projects. He also gave appointment letters on compassionate grounds to next of the kin of 17 farmers who died during the farm agitation. In an attempt to woo the farmers, he announced to construct a state-of-the-art memorial for farmers over 5 acres. Now, the next meeting between the farmers’ representatives and the CM is scheduled on December 29. During the tenure of Amarinder Singh as CM, the state government had disbursed ₹4,610 crore in debt waiver to about 5.63 lakh farmers. Cabinet ministers Randeep Singh Nabha, Vijay Inder Singla, Aruna Chaudary and Raj Kumar Verka besides chief secretary Anirudh Tewari were also present in the meeting.

Hindustan Times

24-12-2021

Chandigarh