Debt waiver on agenda, Punjab Cabinet meets today

Chandigarh : The newly elected Punjab Cabinet, that meets here tomorrow under Capt Amarinder Singh, will look into the issue of agriculture loans. Having won the elections on the promise of a debt waiver, it will be setting up a committee comprising experts to assess the total agriculture loan that the government proposes to waive off.
Highly placed sources told The Tribune that the committee would be asked to assess the extent of rural indebtedness, how much of it was farm loan and how much of this loan could be reconciliated, and submit a report within three months. Based on its recommendations, the government would decide on enacting laws to allow for a loan debt swap from the farmers to the government.
Rural indebtedness in Punjab is estimated at Rs 80,000 crore, of which Rs 70,000 crore is the loan taken by farmers from banks. However, loan specifically for agricultural purposes (excluding short-term loans) is to the tune of Rs 35,000 crore.
Sources say while loans availed by farmers from cooperative banks (Rs 9,484 crore as on December 2016) can be easily swapped/ taken over by the government, the real challenge will be dealing with loans taken from nationalised banks (almost 86 per cent of the farm loan amount). The NPA (non-performing assets) in the agriculture loan sector is Rs 5,150 crore. The Cabinet is expected to take almost 150-odd decisions, including issuing White Paper on the state of economy and the systematic loot of state resources (minor minerals such as sand and aggregate) allotted to cartels with political links. The Cabinet is likely to review the trimming of the government size, closing down about100 defunct government undertakings. Other important decisions would be on ministers and officials shunning the red beacon, doing away with the practice of foundation stones carrying names of ministers, de-politicising the police force and abolishing the halqa in-charge system. Also, the Punjab Government is likely to order a third-party audit of the power utilities. The new dispensation smells mismanagement in the department. Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh said the misuse of discretionary quota by the PSPCL to release tubewell connections to Akali supporters would be looked into soon.
“The misuse of Rural Development Department funds in the name of building toilets in rural areas may also be ordered soon,” said Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa