Free power to farmers to continue, says Amarinder Singh

Chandigarh: Lashing out at the Akalis for trying to mislead people, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday categorically ruled out any move to withdraw free power for agriculture.

Captain Amarinder Singh was addressing the farming community at a programme to issue debt waiver certificates amounting to Rs 162.16 crore to 29,192 farmers at the Dana Mandi here, in the second stage of waiver of loans for the state’s 10.25 lakh small and marginal farmers. Eligible farmers from the five districts of Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Fazilka and Ferozepur got their loan waiver certificates on Wednesday.

Describing the distribution of the certificate as part of the fulfilment of election promise made to the farmers, Mr Singh assured the farmers that the slight delay in the matter was the result not of funds paucity but the fact that the procedure for identification and verification of the eligible farmers, along with their loan amount, was taking some time.

However, he made it clear that he was totally committed to implementing the promise of debt waiver, which he had made ahead of the Assembly elections after hearing of farmer suicides in every place he visited.