Lucknow: After the State Working Committee's meeting with BJP Kisan Morcha in Chitrakoot on September 11 and 12, Kisan Kalyan Sammelan is scheduled to be held in Lucknow on September 18.
50 farmer representatives from every constituency would be a part of this event. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is also expected to address the conference. UP CM Yogi Adityanath had recently interacted with farmers from across the state at his residence. The event was attended by 154 farmers from almost 54 districts. The CM had also made several announcements during this event.
During his interaction with farmers, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had announced that the police cases registered against farmers for burning crop residue would be withdrawn. Not only that, but the CM also said that penalty imposed on farmers will also be eliminated.
Farmers will be made aware of the disadvantages of burning agricultural residues, and ways to process them sustainably.
CM Yogi had said that the power supply needed by farmers to operate tube wells would not be disconnected in case of arrears. The OTS scheme will be introduced so farmers would not have to pay interest on power bill arrears.
During their interaction with CM, farmers had also raised the issue of arrears which was addressed by Sugarcane and Sugar Mill Development Minister Suresh Rana by a statement clarifying that the Chief Minister has directed that all previous payments would be cleared before the new season begins.
82% of the payment arrears have been cleared till date.
CM shares figures:
Sharing the figures with the farmers, the Chief Minister had said that between 2007 and 2016, only Rs. 95,000 crore were paid as compensation for Sugarcane by the former state government. Payments for 96 months from 2010 were all in arrears.
1.40 Lakh Crores have been paid in the past four and a half years. 82% of the current season's arrears have been paid, with only the balance for the past 4 months remaining to be paid. He also said that sugarcane production continued during COVID-19 lockdown, even though exports were stopped due to border restrictions.
Wheat Procurement hits record high:
During the interaction, CM Yogi had said that while 6 lakh metric tonnes of wheat was procured in 2016-17, 56 lakh metric tonnes of record wheat has been procured this year, despite of COVID-19 impacting the procurement process. He added, "Against the procurement of 16 lakh MT paddy in 2016, we have procured 66 lakh MT of paddy in the last season."
Commenting on the issue of closed sugar mills, the CM said that Sugar mills in the Western Region would reopen on October 20 and Central Zone mills would resume operations from October 25. The operation of sugar mills in the Eastern region is scheduled to begin from the first week of November.