Lucknow: With about five months left for the high-voltage Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in a major move on Sunday announced a hike of Rs 25 per quintal in the purchase prices of sugarcane in the state.
“The government has decided that the variety of sugarcane for which Rs 325 per quintal was paid to farmers, that price has been increased to Rs 350, which will be paid to farmers,” said Adityanath addressing a meeting of the farmers organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kisan Morcha in Lucknow.
The Chief Minister said the government has also decided to increase the price of ordinary sugarcane variety, to Rs 340 per quintal up from Rs 315 per quintal.
“The government has also decided to the hike the value of the ‘anupyukt’ (less yielding) variety of sugarcane by Rs 25 per quintal,” he added, PTI reported.
Adityanath said this will enable the sugarcane farmers to increase their income by 8 percent and will be a transformation in the lives of 45 lakh farmers.
The Chief Minister further said 119 sugar mills will be operated, adding they will be linked with ethanol.
Meanwhile, Adityanath, who has exuded confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would return to power in Uttar Pradesh with an overwhelming majority in the assembly elections slated to be held next year, is likely to expand his cabinet this evening.
Seven new faces will be included in the cabinet. Dharamveer Prajapati, Chhatrapal Gangwar, Jitin Prasada, Sangeeta Balwant, Chhatrapal Gangwar, Ashish Patel and Sanjay Gaur are likely to take oath as ministers.
This will be the second cabinet expansion of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.
The cabinet was expanded for the first time earlier on August 22, 2019. Several new faces were then included in the cabinet, while some were dropped. There were 56 members in the cabinet then.
Three ministers Chetan Chauhan, Kamal Rani Varun and Vijay Kashyap died due to Covid-19.
Currently, there are 53 ministers in the Yogi cabinet, including 23 cabinet ministers, 9 independent charge ministers and 21 ministers of state.
ALSO READ: Punjab Cabinet Expansion Today: 7 New Faces Likely To Be Inducted, 8 To Be Retained - Check List
As per the Constitution of India, the Uttar Pradesh Council of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, can have maximum 60 members. Seven spaces are vacant now.
Emphasizing that his government had fulfilled every promise mentioned in the ‘Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra’ in 2017, Adityanath had earlier said Uttar Pradesh witnessed a complete transformation from the past with welfare schemes now reaching the deserving and the state emerging as number two in the ease of doing business.