Punjab Government’s farm debt waiver scheme on Thursday got a major fillip with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh enhancing...

Chandigarh, February 7: The Punjab Government’s farm debt waiver scheme on Thursday got a major fillip with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh enhancing the allocation of funds to Rs. 5500 Crores. The Chief Minister announced the decision while chairing the 45th meeting of the state Rural Development Board here this afternoon.

Captain Amarinder Singh also directed the Secretary Mandi Board to expedite the ongoing project of repairing rural link roads across the state for ensuring its time-bound completion. Disclosing details of the meeting, an official spokesperson later said the increase in funds for farm debt waiver would enable expansion of the scheme, bringing more debt-ridden farmers into its ambit.

The Chief Minister told the meeting that his government would not allow financial crunch to undermine its commitment to provide relief to the distressed farmers in the state. His government was already working on a plan to cover even landless farmers under its waiver scheme, he added.

During the meeting, Secretary Mandi Board apprised the Chief Minister that a comprehensive road repair programme had been drawn up, under which the first phase of around 15,000 KMs of repair was already under implementation and would be completed by June 2019.

Phase II of rural link roads repair had also been initiated to repair another 15,000 KMs of rural roads, for which the tendering process had been started and work would be allotted by February this year, with completion scheduled for June 2020. The meeting was also attended by Revenue Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh, and ACS Development Viswajeet Khanna.