In a significant move aimed at providing financial relief to the Scheduled Caste community, the Punjab Cabinet on Tuesday approved a ₹68 crore loan waiver for over 4,000 Dalit families. The loans had been taken from the Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation.
The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Chandigarh. Addressing the media following the meeting, CM Mann said the waiver will cover loans taken for various income-generating activities such as setting up shops and dairy farming.
The waiver applies to loans accrued till March 31, 2020, and is set to benefit 4,727 families. “This is a major step in our commitment to social justice and equity,” Mann said, adding that the initiative fulfills a promise made during the state budget earlier this year.
Mann said Finance Minister Harpal Sigh Cheema in his budget speech this March had promised to waive the debt. With the cabinet approval, the promise will now be fulfilled, he said. Cheema, who was also at the media briefing, said the debt would include the principal amount and any interest on it, including penal interest. It is a big relief for the SC community, he said.
The minister said the debt had been pending for the past 20 years and added that neither the Congress nor the Akali Dal-BJP governments of the past cared for SC families when they were in power.
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