Punjab govt to introduce Rural Indebtedness Bill in Assembly

Jalandhar, June 2 (UNI) The Punjab government will introduce Rural Indebtedness Bill in the next Vidhan Sabha session for a legislation to waive off the loans of the heavily indebted farmers in the State.

Informing this to newspersons here today, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the farmers in the State had a burden of over Rs 24,000 crore agriculture loan.

Out of this huge burden, fifty per cent was in the form of loans taken from the banks, while fifty per cent was in the form of loans taken from the 'artias' private money lenders.

Therefore, the State Government alone could not provide relief unless the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India expressed their support and assistance for the move, Capt Singh said.

He said the draft of the proposed bill has been sent to the Union Government and further action would be taken only after response from the Centre.

UNI SS PS SHB RK1903