Punjab govt forms committee to study farm loan waiver

Chandigarh, Mar 4 (UNI) The Punjab Government today formed a committee to study the Rs 60,000 crore loan waiver scheme as announced in the Union Budget.

The committee will be headed by Chief Secretary R I Singh, an official spokesman here said.

The Committee would meet financial experts and also seek details about the scheme from the central government on the loan waiver. The committee would then present its report to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The constitution of the committee was also announced by the Chief Minister in the Assembly today.

The committee had been constituted after the Chief Minister said just 29 per cent of the farmers of Punjab would benefit from this waiver. The state would benefit just to the tune of a little over Rs 1200 crore despite making major contributions to the central food grain pool at the cost of its natural resources-soil and water, he had stated at a media conference yesterday.

Acccording to Mr Badal the bad debt or penalty on the loans incured by farmers would be waived off. He had told the Assembly that it was too early to comment on the impact of the waiver.

UNI HS SW AS2002