As a major relief to farmers, the Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday announced the withdrawal of cases filed against farmers due to stubble burning and said it will also waive fines imposed on them.
"The government will withdraw the cases registered against the farmers due to stubble burning and the decision will be taken on refund of fine," said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during an interaction with farmers.
The UP Chief Minister has also said that before the new cane crushing season, all the previous payments that are pending since 2010 will be made.
"We will work to make sure timely payments are made as well as to increase the price of sugarcane. The decision will be communicated to all the concerned stakeholders so that the farmers are not misguided," he said.
As per a release, Adityanath has instructed the officials that the connection of a single farmer should not be cut at all due to the arrears of the electricity bills.
At the same time, while assuring the farmers he said, "OTS scheme will be introduced for farmers so that they do not have to pay interest or penalty on the old bill".
Speaking at the interaction session, the Chief Minister said that the farmer is the one who feeds everyone and also is the building block of a society. He said farmers hold the most important place as they struggle to fill the stomach of even the last person of society.
"The covid-19 pandemic today has grappled the entire world, however, the farmers have faced it bravely. The sugar mills continued to function even during the Covid period and the farmers continued to produce food grains" said the Chief Minister.
Adityanath also asserted that instead of using farmers for satisfying political interests like all other political parties, the BJP under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked in a planned and phased manner to uplift the farmers since 2014.
"The current Uttar Pradesh government has worked with the goal to double the income of farmers. All old dues will be paid before the new session," he said.
Referring to the Purvanchal the 'Sugar Bowl' and the 'Sugarcane Belt' in western UP, the Chief Minister said that before 2017, during the previous governments the sugar mills were shut down. "The farmers were disappointed. But in 2017, when the state gave a chance to PM Modi, new sugar mills were started in Pipraich-Munderwa. The capacity of the closed Ramala Sugar Mill was increased and was made operational," he said.
Indicating the pro-farmer stance of the government, the Chief Minister said that from the year 2007 to 2016, only Rs 95,000 crores were paid to the farmers for their sugarcane. "Everything was due for 96 months since 2010. Over 45.74 lakh sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been paid a record cane price payment of more than Rs 1,40,000 crore between 2017-2021," he added.
"While only 6 lakh metric tonnes of wheat was procured in 2016-17, this year a record 56 lakh metric tonnes of wheat was procured despite Corona. We procured 66 lakh MT of paddy in the last season against 16 lakh MT of paddy purchased in 2016. It is also important that the purchase made during the previous governments was done through middlemen, whereas the present government ensured that the purchase was directly from the farmers and the payment was made directly into the bank accounts of farmers," the Chief Minister said further.
While fixing the date for the start of the new crushing season, Adityanath said that on the demand of the farmers, sugar mills would start in the western region from October 20, while in the central region from October 25. Similarly, the mills in the eastern region will start from the first week of November.
( With inputs from ANI )
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