Jaipur, June 10: Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Friday said the Congress government in his state would fulfil its election promise and waive farmers’ loans soon.
Badal, however, accused the BJP-led central government of destroying Punjab’s dairy business through cow vigilantism. He alleged that the Narendra Modi government was ruining the country’s education system too with interventions from RSS.
“Congress came to power in Punjab barely 90 days ago; we are yet to complete 100 days. We could not present the state budget, as the government was formed in March. Ten days from now, we will be presenting the budget and waiving loans will be a part of the proposals,” Badal said, addressing a press conference at the PCC headquarters here. He added, “Punjab will waive (farmers’) debts, as per its capacity. The promise was part of our manifesto and we will be true to our words.”
The finance minister said Punjab would settle the long-pending dispute with Rajasthan over sharing the water of Indira Gandhi Nahar Project and would pay its share for renovating the canal.
Targeting the Modi-government, Badal said Punjab’s dairy business worth Rs 9000-crore has been shattered because of the cow vigilantes who have ‘cropped up’ under the BJP rule. “Punjab used to produce 8 to 9% of country’s milk but now its dairy business stands devastated because of the so-called gau-rakshaks (cow vigilantes),” the finance minister said. “If the central government wants to mitigate farmers’ sufferings, it should distribute the profit earned due to fall in international crude oil prices and waive the peasants’ debts,” Badal said.
The Congress leader said that in past three years, the central government failed to frame an education policy but collected Rs 1,32,649 crore through cess on education. “CAG has said the fund collected through this cess was not spent in a transparent manner,” said Badal.
News Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
