Only 4,272 farmers get benefit in Muktsar dist

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Malout, April 26

Despite much hype, only 4,272 farmers in Muktsar district have got the benefit of the state government’s debt waiver scheme.

Notably, 80 per cent of the population is engaged in farming and as per the 2011 census, the population of the district is above nine lakh.

Muktsar Central Co-operative Bank, a lone institution in the district that has waived the debt of farmers having less than two-acre land, has cleared the debt amounting to Rs 17 crore. It means only Rs 40,200 has been waived of a farmer.

Paramvir Singh Bhandari, district manager, Muktsar Central Co-operative Bank, said, “We had forwarded the name of 9,500 farmers for debt waiver, but only 4,575 were cleared. Of these, objections were received against 346 farmers so they also did not get the benefit. Now, 4,272 farmers have got the benefit and nearly Rs 17 crore waived.”

Meanwhile, Baljinder Singh Brar, Chief Agriculture Officer, Muktsar, said, “The district has 34,049 farming families as per the 2011 census. I am not aware how many farmers got the benefit of the state government’s debt waiver scheme.”

Notably, the farmers are demanding complete debt waiver. Various farmers’ organisations unions have lodged protests in this regard as well.