New Delhi: As a major step to the increase the income of the farmers, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Sunday, announced to increase the state administered price (SAP) of sugarcane by Rs 25 per quintal, taking it to Rs 350 per quintal, in Uttar Pradesh. CM also announced to waive the interest on the outstanding electricity bills of the farmers.
Announcing the hike for the 2021-22 crushing season, the CM said, “As per the decision, the purchase price of early variety of sugarcane will be raised to Rs 350 per quintal from Rs 325 per quintal. The SAP for general variety Rs 340 per quintal from Rs 315 per quintal earlier”.
The rejected variety of sugarcane which was barely one percent left, the government has decided to buy it at the increased price of 335 per quintal from Rs 310 per quintal.This will additionally boost the income of 45.44 lakh sugarcane farmers in the state, he added.
The hike in sugarcane SAP will result in additional annual payment to farmers to the tune of Rs.4000 crore.
The announcement was made by the Chief Minister while addressing around 25,000 farmers of the state during Kisan Sammelan at Defence Expo Ground in Lucknow.
Recalling the shutdown of sugar mills during the tenure of the SP-BSP governments, the CM described the period from 2004 to 2014 as a “dark era” for the country and the state. He said that during that time anarchy and hooliganism prevailed and the farmers were forced to commit suicide while the poor were starving.
Regretting the killings of infamous Muzaffarnagar riots during the SP regime, Yogi said that anyone who got killed then was either a farmer or the son of a farmer. After 2017, there was not even a single riot in UP. The rioters know quite well that their property will be confiscated and they will have to pay for their deeds.
Taking a dig at the state of affairs in the Congress UP, he said that the Congress, which cheated the farmers, has nothing to speak now. The Chief Minister said that before 2017 people’s cows and buffaloes in western Uttar Pradesh used to go missing and were stolen. But today the situation has changed.
Launching a scathing attack on the previous governments, the CM said, “When we came into power, there was a disappointment on the face of the sugarcane farmers, they had agreed that the sugar mills had been closed, 21 sugar mills were closed under the Bahujan Samajwadi Party government. Sugar mills were sold at throwaway prices. The sugar mills worth Rs.300 crores were sold for only Rs.25-30 crores. 11 sugar mills were closed under the Samajwadi Party government”.
Sugar mills that got shut during the previous governments were revived by our government and the state now ranks first in sugar production in the country. New sugar mills were started in Pipraich-Munderwa, the capacity of the closed Ramala Sugar Mill was increased and was made operational, he said.
Referring to the efforts to protect the interest of farmers during the pandemic period, the CM said that the world was troubled during the Corona times. Industry stopped working in Brazil, which is the largest producer of sugar. More than half of the sugar mills in Maharashtra closed down, some in Karnataka. But the sugarcane department of UP did the work of running all 119 sugar mills. Presenting the data in front of the farmers, CM Yogi said that we worked with Team spirit and the Cane department ensured a payment of Rs.1.44 lakh crore in four and a half years to the sugarcane farmers.
Referring to the BJP Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra of 2017 elections, the CM said that as soon as the government was formed, we fulfilled the promise of waiving crop loans of 86 lakh farmers.
In the same month, we brought the policy of procurement that we would directly help farmers and buy the produce at the purchasing centers. We eliminated the middlemen and the benefit was made available directly to the farmers.
The CM also said that in the last four and a half years his government purchased record food grains from the farmers.
Earlier, no one was safe and the farmer was forced to commit suicide inside the state, dying of hunger, even inside Maharashtra. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came into power, he made the announcement that there will be no discrimination in the country, the government will work for the welfare of all.
“Since the Covid period, the government is giving free ration to the people of UP, whereas the previous governments have done the work of eating the ration of the poor,” he said
State President of BJP Kisan Morcha Kameshwar Singh, National President of Kisan Morcha MP Rajkumar Chahar ji, State in-charge MP Radha Mohan Singh, State President Swatantradev Singh, Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Sugarcane Minister Suresh Rana were also present at the Kisan Sammelan. The programme was by hosted Dhanshyam Patel and the welcome speech was given by Kameshwar Singh. The guests on stage were welcomed by Sudhir Singh, Rambabu Dwivedi, Satender Tughana.
