‘Stop issuing arrest warrants to indebted farmers, or be ready for protest’ warns Kirti Kisan Union
Chandigarh: Taking serious note of the arrest warrants issued against indebted farmers, Kirti Kisan Union has demanded immediate cessation of their debt. State President of Kirti Kisan Union Nirbhai Singh Dhurdike, General Secretary Satbir Singh Sultani and Vice President Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala condemned this move by Punjab government.
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KKU in a video statement said, “Congress Chief Minister Charanjit Channi promised in his last meeting with the farmers organizations that the Agriculture Development Bank would be brought under the ambit of loan waiver but the exact opposite has happened
The Kirti Kisan Union warned Punjab government that if the warrants against indebted farmers were not stopped then the Punjab government should be ready to face the farmers’ agitation in state.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asked chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to direct cooperative banks to stop issuing arrest warrants against farmers who had failed to repay their loans because of deteriorating financial conditions due to crop failures coupled with sharp increase in agricultural inputs.
In a statement here, senior SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema expressed shock that arrest warrants had been issued to farmers in Bathinda, Mansa, Ferozepur and Fazilka districts for failing to repay loans taken from the Punjab Agricultural Development Bank. He said most of the defaulters were from the State’s cotton belt.
Asserting that the chief minister was best informed about the agricultural crisis being faced by the State and had always been a votary against use of high handed methods against farmers, Dr Daljit Cheema demanded immediate withdrawal of the arrest warrants. He said the AAP government should also extend all possible help to farmers including ensuring they were paid a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal to compensate them for the failure of their wheat crop. “The government should also reduce State VAT on diesel which has witnessed a sharp hike during the last one month besides coming up with other schemes to reduce farm indebtedness”.
Dr Cheema made it clear that the SAD would not sit quiet in the face of arrest of farmers of the State. “The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) must honour its word and take the farmers out of the circle of indebtedness instead of using arrest warrants to humiliate and harass them”. He said this tactic was already having an adverse effect with three farmers committing suicide in Bathinda and Mansa district fearing increased indebtedness due to low wheat crop yields.
The SAD leader also expressed shock that the AAP government had not reacted in time and did not make a case for comprehensive relief to Punjab farmers following partial failure of their wheat crop. “No effort was made to demand release of funds from the Disaster Management Fund by making out a case of natural calamity due to excessive rains followed by a sharp increase in the temperature”. He said the State had also not requisitioned the centre to take stock of the losses suffered by the farmers till now.
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-PTC News
