Chandigarh: Punjab Financial Commissioner Revenue Vinni Mahajan today took strict note of pendency in forwarding the cases of providing indebtedness relief to the families of farmers and farm labourers who committed suicides. Mahajan, who is also chairperson of the state-level committee on indebtedness relief issued directions to the Deputy Commissioners to clear the backlog and forward all the cases for sanction by January 2018, according to an official release.   

The monthly review of approving sanctions for the eligible cases revealed that the Deputy Commissioners were sending indebtedness relief cases dating back to 2014 which was not in consonance with the directions of the government pertaining to 'rendering quick relief to the affected families', informed the chairperson. Moreover, the state level committee observed that the reports of district-level committees formed under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners, to verify the cases, lacked requisite details, it said.   

The Chairperson said that it was observed that many of the reports by the Chief Agriculture Officers were hushed up, adding that in certain cases, supporting documents were missing.   In the course of the meeting, as many as 46 cases for rendering indebtedness relief to the kin of farmers and farm labourers affected by suicides were accorded sanctions worth Rs 1.34 crore. "These include 17 cases from Sangrur, 12 cases from Mansa, seven cases from Sri Muktsar Sahib, five cases from Amritsar, two cases each from Ferozepur and Bathinda, and 1 from Faridkot. Amongst sanctioned cases, there are three cases of the year 2014, two cases of 2015, seven cases of 2016 and 34 cases of 2017," release said. PTI