Chandigarh: The state government has approached some former IAS officers, including those who have served in the Union Agriculture Ministry, to head the committee to be set up to deal with farm debt.
The Congress had promised that it would waive the debt of farmers. The BJP, which had made a similar promise in Uttar Pradesh, has already waived the loans of small and marginal farmers up to Rs1 lakh.
Among those approached include JNL Srivastava, a former Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation, who also served as MD, Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), and the director of Nabard, Iffco, Kribhco and Nafed.
He has also represented India in the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Trade Organisation.
Sources said former IAS officer T Nanda Kumar, who also served as Secretary, Agriculture and Food, at the Centre has also be contacted. He also remained Chairman, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for some time. Others include FC (D) Satish Chandra, PAU Vice-Chancellor BS Dhillon and GADVASU Vice-Chancellor AS Nanda.
Some other former bureaucrats have also been approached. A senior officer is awaiting their consent. The newly appointed Chairman of the Punjab Farmers’s Commission, Ajay Vir Jakhar, will also be part of the multi- member panel, it is learnt.
A former RBI official and a retired officer of an insurance company may also be taken on the panel, said the sources.
The proposed committee would submit its report before the regular Budget in June. Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal will include loan waiver in his budget proposal, it is learnt.
The first task of the committee would be to assess the total volume of farm debt. Then it would classify how much of it is bad debt. It would also classify cases of small and marginal to given priority in the waiver scheme. Apart from suggesting resources to be mobilised to generate money, the committee would also prepare a detailed blueprint of the process to be followed in this regard.
According to an estimate, farmers owe Rs80,000 crore to various institutes and private moneylenders. The NPA component was about Rs2,800 crore.
As a first step, the state is expected to waive the debt of long-time defaulters but not willful ones. Then there are loans taken from commission agents. This is likely to be referred to Tribunals.
The then SAD-BJP government had enacted a law known as Punjab Settlement of Agriculture Indebtedness Act, 2016. Sources said that after making some amendments in this Act during the next session of the Vidhan Sabha, Tribunals could be set up at divisional headquarters to deal with debt taken by farmers from commission agents.