Farmers’ loans to figure at first Punjab Cabinet meeting tomorrow

Chandigarh : The newly elected Punjab Cabinet that meets for the first time on Saturday will take the issue of farmers’ loans head on, having achieved power on the promise of debt-waiver. The cabinet will set up a committee of experts to assess the total agricultural loan, which the government proposes to waive. This amounts to around Rs 35,000 crore.The cabinet meeting will also authorise the government to come up with a white paper on the state of finances that the Congress government has inherited. The “systematic loot of state resources” will also be part of the white paper.
The government’s expenses in the last three years will also be audited, as a lot of works were undertaken without approval, say sources.
The cabinet can also order a third-party audit of the power department, as the current political dispensation believes there was much mismanagement in the department.
A 150-point agenda is to be discussed by the Cabinet on Saturday afternoon, wherein important decisions on governance and economic reforms will be discussed.