“During the meeting on co-operative loan structuring (long-term loans) in Delhi recently, I took up the matter with the representatives of the Central government,” Capt Kanwaljit Singh said, while talking to mediapersons here today. “I argued that Nabard lends funds to the state government on 9 per cent interest, but when it is loaned to the end user — the farmer — it costs him 12 per cent, which runs contrary to the Union government’s policy, which says that it wants to support the peasants. Is this the way to support farmers?’’ said Capt Kanwaljit. He added, “We have asked the Union government to cut the interest rate from 9 per cent to 5 per cent as the farmers are already in the red.’’

He said he had also urged the Central government to give a package to Punjab farmers who were going through hard times, and many of them were being driven to suicides.