CM to meet Jaitley today, to seek aid for loan waiver

Chandigarh : The Punjab Government is all set to approach the Union Government for the waiver of crop loan of commercial banks. The issue will figure in tomorrow’s meeting between Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The state government will press the Centre to waive the crop loan debt of about Rs 6,000 crore of commercial banks. A senior state government functionary said apart from the crop loan of the commercial banks, about Rs 3,600 crore of crop loan was outstanding against small and marginal farmers with the cooperative banks. The Congress government is in a tight spot with the Opposition parties accusing it of misleading farmers over the farm debt waiver scheme. The Chief Minister is also expected to take up with Jaitley the issue of settlement of Rs 31,000 Cash Credit Limit-related debt to ease the state’s financial burden.