Amid protests, Punjab CM to launch debt waiver scheme in Mansa

Leader of opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira would be leading the AAP cadres with black flags at the Mansa event, while the BKU-Ugrahan activists are also to reach the venue.
Bathinda : Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh will preside over a function for distribution of certificates of debt waiver to hundreds of marginal farmers with a landholding of up to 2.5 acres at a state-level function in Mansa on Sunday.
The state government has allocated Rs 170 crore to waive the loan of 47,000 farmers in the first phase, which covers loans taken from cooperative societies registered with the Punjab Agricultural Development Bank (PADB).
Beneficiaries from five districts of Malwa region — Mansa, Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktsar and Moga — have been roped in for the event, at which the CM is scheduled also to clear the air over the hue and cry that certain farmers’ lobbies and the opposition — the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) — have been raising.
Leader of opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira would be leading the AAP cadres with black flags at the Mansa event, while the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)-Ugrahan activists are also to reach the venue. The SAD would not be holding a protest, though. Landless peasants have also raised their voice in many districts over being left out.
Police have deputed 2,500 personnel from Mansa and other districts in the face of the protests. A police spokesman said no protesting group would be allowed to reach the venue, the local grain market.