Jaipur: The state Government shied away from assuring a total Loan Waiver for farmers in the Rajasthan assembly on Thursday.

Following this, the government was attacked by the Opposition during the question hour. Even as the Congress MLAs continued with their dharna demanding a total Loan waiver, the question hour on Wednesday began with independent MLA Nand Kishore Maharia’s queries related to it.

State agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini informed the house that several farmers’ organisations had submitted a 57-point charter of demands, which included the one on loan waiver. “They submitted a memorandum, but a memorandum is not a Gita or Bible. A 11-member high-powered committee was constituted to look into their demands, and on the basis of the recommendations of the committee, a decision would be taken,” said Saini.

The house witnessed an uproar over Saini’s reply as the Opposition demanded an immediate announcement. Another independent MLA Dr Rajkumar Sharma demanded that the government reply in a yes or no. Saini maintained that the government would take a decision after the committee submits its report.

Maharia demanded to know why only Rajasthan from all other states felt the need to constitute a committee. “There are several problems faced by states were the decision was made in a haphazard manner, be it UP, Maharashtra, Punjab. We are trying to avoid such a situation. A number of factors are being considered, including the case of farmers who have repaid their loans. A study is important as almost 75% of the population in the state is associated with farming,” said Saini. The minister informed the house that the committee was presently in Karnataka studying the module where it has been implemented. He specified that the committee would review loan waiver of up to Rs 50,000.

The government also found itself cornered by the Opposition on the demand of procurement of medicinal crops and others such as isabgol, guar gram, heena and garlic. “The BJP in its Suraaj Sankalp Yatra had announced that these crops too would be procured by the government on minimum support price (MSP). However, nothing has been done so far,” alleged Maharia.

The minister said that the decision on additions to the list of crops that the government can procure was taken by the central government. He added that the state government had sent three letters to the Centre regarding this. He said that the decision was taken on the basis of the crop being included in the Food Security Act, has a long shelf life and are used across the country. To this, the Opposition alleged that the ruling party had misguided the people.

Meanwhile, Congress MLAs, supported by a few others from opposition parties, continued with their dharna in the well of the house. The party’s lawmakers have been staging a dharna over their demand of a total loan waiver for farmers since Tuesday afternoon and had spent the last two nights in the house as a mark of protest.

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The opposition leader Rameshwar Dudi in a letter to the state governor accused the state chief minister of ‘insensitive’ pointed out that the Congress and Independent legislators have been sitting on dharna in the well of the house for four days, day and night during the assembly session demanding total wave off of farmers’ loans but the chif minister failed to respond.

He said the farmers have not been paid the compensation for the crop loos due to hailstorm in 2015. The farmers are also not getting minimum support price and crops insurance scheme is a total failure. The farmers are also not getting sufficient power; the interstate water sharing agreements are not enforced. The government also failed to carry out repair of canals and farmers are deprived of seeds and fertilizers, he alleged.