Kejriwal announces loan waiver, 5 other pre-poll 'guarantees' for Gujarat farmers

Dwarka (Gujarat): Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced a set of six pre-poll "guarantees" for farmers, including waiver of agricultural loans, if the AAP was voted to power in Gujarat as he stepped up his outfit's campaigning for the year-end Assembly elections in the BJP-ruled state.

Kejriwal said his party, if voted to power, will create a mechanism to buy farm produce from farmers on Minimum Support Price (MSP).

In his address to farmers at Dwarka town of Devbhumi Dwarka district, the Delhi Chief Minister also promised to conduct a fresh land survey as farmers were unhappy with the survey conducted recently by the BJP government. "Though MSP is announced every year, farm produce is not sold at that price. It is my guarantee that our government will buy at MSP if farmers do not find any other buyer who is willing to buy their produce at MSP," said Kejriwal.

The AAP leader added that a government headed by his party in the state will first cover five farm produce - wheat, paddy, cotton, chana and groundnut - under the 'buy at MSP' programme and then add more commodities to the list going forward.

"I have learnt the farmers in Gujarat get electricity at night to irrigate their fields. If the AAP is voted to power, we will give electricity during the day, that, too, for 12 hours. We will also cancel the land survey done by this government and order a re-survey," he said.

Raising another contentious issue concerning Gujarat farmers, Kejriwal, as his third guarantee, promised to scrap the land survey conducted recently by BJP government.

"This land survey was wrong. We will scrap it and conduct a re-survey of land by keeping farmers in the loop," said the Delhi CM.

On the lines of Delhi, Gujarat farmers will also get a compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre in case of crop loss due to various calamities, promised Kejriwal as his fourth guarantee. "My fifth guarantee is that within one year of forming a government, we will provide irrigation water to each and every village which falls under the Narmada dam project's command area," he said.

Without elaborating much, he promised loan waiver for Gujarat farmers as his sixth guarantee to cultivators.