Punjab sees 15.69pc increase in GST: Minister
He said the state has seen a shift in its fiscal trajectory since the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann-led government took office in March 2022.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday 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 CM 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 Cheema demanded immediate withdrawal of the arrest warrants.
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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 said 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.
Dr Cheema also asked the chief minister to get active and request the Centre to release funds to the cooperative and land mortgage banks in Punjab.
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