Yogi says his govt will restore pride of east UP’s sugar bowl

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said the previous “insensitive” governments were not worried about the youth, traders and farmers. “They used to sell and close sugar mills but the BJP government runs closed sugar mills and sets up new ones,” he said after he inaugurated a sugar mill with a crushing capacity of 50000 quintals per day, and a 27 MW co-generation plant in Pipraich in Gorakhpur district.

Addressing a public meeting in Gorakhpur, he said ‘closure’ of this Pipraich sugar mill started in 2008 and was completely shut down in 2010-11. “We held protests regarding this, and all regional leaders of the BJP and Hindu Yuva Vahini activists participated in it,” he added.

Yogi further said, “When we formed the government in 2017, the decision to set up a new sugar mill in Pipraich was taken in the very first meeting.” Closure of a sugar mill means rendering 50,000 farmers unemployed and another 1000 youths jobless, he said.

Giving out details of the Pipraich sugar mill, he said crushing of 50,000 quintals sugarcane will be done daily, leading to production of sulphur-free sugar. “Along with this, 27 MW electricity will also be produced, which will generate income of Rs 30,000 crore. With this, farmers will be paid in time for their sugarcane and people will get electricity,” Yogi said.

He said a modern distillery will soon be installed in the Pipraich sugar mill and ethanol will also be produced in the second phase.

The chief minister said his government was working to restore the pride of the ‘sugar bowl’ of east Uttar Pradesh.

“In keeping with the slogan of ‘Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided Soil Health Card and PM Fasal Bima Yojana. He also ensured that farmers get one-and-half times more than their cost of produce, and another Rs 6,000 annually from Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme,” Yogi said while thanking Modi for re-laying the foundation stone of the factory which had been closed for 26 years.

Yogi said “taking inspiration from the Prime Minister, our government waived loans up to Rs 1 lakh for small and marginal farmers. He said the previous governments did not pay cane price to farmers for six years.”

He added: “The state government paid Rs 76,000 crore to farmers.”

Yogi said pollution was a big problem and appealed to farmers to not burn paddy stubble or sugarcane leaves in their fields but convert them into compost.

Yogi further said it was the responsibility of all of us to see that no one sleeps on the pavement or rail tracks in the winter. He directed officials to make arrangements for the homeless.

Speaking on the Ramgarh Tal, Yogi said the natural beauty of the Tal attracted everyone. “Today, it has become the best film-making location for member of parliament and actor Ravi Kishan. He should shoot a film here. It will attract a huge crowd on the very first day, and police force may have to be used to control it,” the chief minister said.

Earlier this year, Yogi inaugurated a sugar mill of 50,000 quintal capacity at Ramala, the ‘karmabhoomi’ of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. This mill is producing 27 MW of electricity and providing employment to 45,000 people. Similarly, four sugar mills which were closed for the last ten years -- Saharanpur, Bulandshahar, Chandausi and Meerut -- were revived and these created employment for people. Also capacity of a dozen sugar mills’ was increased.