Punjab agri growth rate is 3.9 per cent

Ludhiana, Oct 16 (UNI) The growth rate in the agriculture sector in Punjab which touched minus 1.9 percent during the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP government headed by Prakash Singh Badal has registered an increase of 3.9 per cent during Congress rule.

'' This increase is impressive if we compare it with the national average which was just four percent'', Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh told mediapersons here today.

Admitting that the agricultural sector in the state was passing through a crisis despite registering an increase in the growth rate, he said that his government was already working out modalities to announce a suitable package to give relief to the debt-ridden farmers. Capt singh however, ruled out the possibility of complete waiver of banks loans as the state could afford to give such reliefs.

Taking SAD President Parkash Singh Badal to task, Capt Singh said he was politicising the issue of rural debt in Punjab by projecting a unrealistic figure of Rs 30,000 crore. The total rural debt in the state was Rs 25,000 crore out of which Rs 2,500 crore was ''bad debt''.

He said that his government was actively considering providing immediate relief to the small and marginal farmers who had fallen in the debt trap.

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