Punjab Govt Won’t Issue Any Arrest Warrants Against The Farmers: FM Harpal Singh Cheema

Recently, the arrest warrants were issued by the cooperative banks to the loan defaulter farmers and farmer union who were threatening to protest against the state govt. 

Now Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday directed the cooperative banks not to issue arrest warrants against any farmer for non-payment of loan, ordering an immediate stop to issuance of warrants against the loan defaulter farmers.

“The government will bring a policy to make agriculture profitable so that farmers are not in debt. No warrant will be issued against any farmer for non-payment of loan. All warrants have been withdrawn with immediate effect and no farmer will be arrested”, said minister Harpal Singh Cheema in a video recording.

The finance minister’s statement came after arrest warrants were issued by cooperative banks to farmers for defaulting on their loans.

Recently, a section of farmer unions had threatened to start a stir against the state government if any farmer is arrested for defaulting on their loans.

Blaming the previous regime for the arrest warrants, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema claimed that the erstwhile Congress government had promised to waive off the loans of farmers and then also announced in December 2021 to do it for all farmers irrespective of their land holdings. “They did not keep this promise. Instead, they issued arrest warrants against farmers before leaving the government,” he alleged.

During the recent assembly elections, the political opponents of the Congress party had been continuously questioning the Congress govt for failing to fulfill their promise of complete farm loan waiver. In 2017, Capt Amarinder Singh, along with his ministers, took oath on the Holy Gutka Sahib to wave off the full farm loans of the farmers of Punjab, but even after almost 4.5 years of his tenure and then in the few-months tenure of Charanjit Singh Channi, the then Congress govt failed to fulfill their poll promises, especially the complete farm loan waiver, as claimed by the Akali Dal, BJP as well as the Aam Aadmi Party.

Now the current finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema has once again blamed the erstwhile Congress govt to failing in fulfilling its promises and issuing the arrest warrants against the farmers.

Share on: