BJP MPs want waiver of farm loans for bigger ones

New Delhi, Mar 4 (UNI) The BJP Parliamentary Party today welcomed the Budget proposal of Finance Minister P Chidambaram providing waiver of farm loans worth Rs 60,000 crores and asked the loans to be extended to farmers owning 10 acres for irrigated lands and 16 acres in rainfed areas.

Briefing newspersons after the customary meeting of party MPs, BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, the party MPs welcomed the loan waiver but felt that the scheme was inadequate to meet the disparities caused by irrigated and unirrigated areas and suggested the Government should not stick to its two hectare norm for extending the loan waiver.

The Parlimentary Party meeting presided over by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani also constituted a committee headed by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha to come out with recommendations on the issue after detailed studies.

Such a paper would enable the party to take an informed view about the issue.

The MPs were concerned that the farmers who had availed loans from private lenders were left out in the Budget proposal.

The Committee should consider if the party would demand a waiver of all loans irrespective of the holdings, sources said.

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