Oppossition picks holes in debt-waiver

New Delhi, Mar 4 (UNI) While the Congress continued to hammer on the Rs 60,000-crore farmers' debt waiver in the Lok Sabha for the second day today, the Opposition picked holes in the scheme, saying it is not going to end his misery and spate of suicides.

Resuming discussion on the Motion Of Thanks on the President's address to Parliament, Adhir Chowdhury(Cong) said it would not be an uphill task to mobilise the required funds in three years to write-off massive debt when the economy is growing at close to 9 per cent every year.

Continuing in the vein of Mr Ajit Jogi who yesterday moved the motion, Mr Chowdhury said the debt waiver reflects sincerity of the Congress-led UPA government in alleviating the misery of farming community.

He also took the opportunity in hailing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, saying it has ushered in a ''silent revolution'' in the country.

Stating that there is a sizeable Muslim population in his constituency in West Bengal, Mr Chowdhury also lauded schemes targeted at ameliorating the lot of the minority community as recommended by the Sachar Committee report.

However, Anant Geete (Shiv Sena), while supporting the motion, picked up holes in the debt waiver scheme, saying it is not going to benefit cotton growers of Vidharbha region in Maharasthra where a large number of farmers have committed suicide.

He demanded that threshhold of 2 hectares for waiving off loans should be raised to 5 hectares and the limit removed for Vidharbha farmers altogether because most victims of suicide owned more than 2 hectares.

Unless debt waiver scheme is properly targeted it will not yield the desired results, particularly in Vidharbha region where misery and suicide, he warned, would continue.

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