Punjab Cong chief Amarinder raises farmers' debt issue with PM

New Delhi: Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh on Friday raised the issue of economic plight of debt-ridden Punjab farmers before Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Amarinder, who was part of the Congress delegation led by party's national vice president Rahul Gandhi, said farmers burdened with loans were committing suicide in Punjab and other parts of the country.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, he said the problems of the farmers were being compounded by the manner in which agricultural issues, including MSP (minimum support price), were being handled by the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

He said the Congress had sought the Prime Minister's support to alleviate the debt and other woes of the farmers.

Modi, he said, assured to look into the matter. Amarinder said he had spoken about the Punjab farmers' plight in the meeting while leaders from Uttar Pradesh had highlighted the situation in their state.

Responding to media persons questions, he said the demonetisation had aggravated the problems of the farmers.

"In Punjab, where farmers were totally dependant on cooperative banks for their cash requirements, 7,000 of the

12,700 villages had no bank branches or ATMs," he said, asking the Modi government as to how the farmers could be expected to survive in such a situation.

Reacting to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's claim that post-demonetisation situation in the country would stabilise in another 2-3 weeks, the PCC chief claimed he did not see the situation improving even in the "next one year".

In a statement, Amarinder said the gravity of the situation in Punjab could be gauged by the fact that 33 lakh farmers have signed the debt waiver forms under Congress' campaign 'Karza Kudki Khatam, Fasal Di Poori Rakam,' which evoked good response from farming community, including farm labourers.

The Punjab Congress chief said given the "huge savings" earned by the central government in oil subsidy, waiver of loans of the farmers should not be a problem.

Claiming that the BJP government at the Centre had waived off loans of industrialists to the tune of Rs 110,000 crores, Amarinder said the same could be done for the poor farmers, for whom it was a matter of life and death.

The former Punjab chief minister said he was committed to waiving off the farmers' loans in the state.

"Neither the farmers nor the arhtiyas (commission agents) would would have to pay a single penny out of their pockets to settle the outstanding loans," he promised.

The plight of the farmers in Punjab, he claimed, had been worsened by the Badal government's "anti-farmer policies and actions, including massive bungling in procurement, non-payment of dues to farmers, procurement at lower than MSP and delayed harvesting in border areas due to evacuation triggered by BJP-led war hysteria".