Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday asked the Congress Government to come out with a list of farmers whose loans had been waived off. At the same time, the party has asked the Government to inform the banks about the same as farmers were being penalised for not paying interest on loans due to the assurance of a waiver by the State Government.
“This is of utmost importance as lakhs of farmers have stopped paying interest on loans on the assurance of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh that the issue is now between the Government and the banks,” said former Minister and SAD spokesman Maheshinder Singh Grewal.
“Imagine their sense of betrayal when they realize that they have been duped by a false poll promise with banks adjusting their social security pension against interest due on their loans,” he said.
Grewal said the Congress Government’ “fake” loan package had also been exposed with banks clearly stating that they had not received any notification of a loan waiver till now.
The least the “non-functional” Congress Government could do was to make the list of those eligible for its so-called loan waiver scheme available to the people.
Grewal also pointed out that entire banking system is set to become paralysed in the State with banks not ready to issue fresh loans to farmers. “Farmers need to take loans at the time of planting new crops to purchase inputs including fertilizer and diesel. If they do not get loans for this purpose, entire State economy will be hit,” he said asking the Chief Minister “to come out with solutions immediately or face the wrath of the farming community”.