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Move to enable farmers to swap loans: Hooda

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Monday that the State Government was considering a proposal to enable farmers to swap their loans taken from “ahrtiyas” (moneylenders) with those of banks on easy terms.

Talking to the media shortly after inaugurating a renovated portion of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here, Mr. Hooda said about 10 lakh farmers in Haryana would benefit from the Centre’s announcement made in the Union Budget to waive off framers’ loans.

According to his own estimate, he said, farmers would benefit to the tune of about Rs.5,000 crore.

Heaping lavish praise on United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the “historic decision”, he charged that the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance regime had not given “even a small incentive” to the farming community.

He said Haryana was seeking a package of incentives for the backward areas of the State like Mewat and Shivaliks.

He said his regime had earlier given many incentives to the farmers to improve their lot and had even waived off the arrears of electricity bills worth Rs.1,600 crore.

Haryana was a small but progressive State and now the wheels of progress were moving at full speed, he asserted while reiterating that the Government was committed to making Haryana the No. One State in all spheres of development.

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Move to enable farmers to swap loans: Hooda

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