Yogi govt makes record payment to cane growers

Lucknow, June 18 The Uttar Pradesh government has made a record payment of Rs 1.37 lakh crore to more than 45 lakh sugarcane farmers.

The payment is twice the amount that was made by the erstwhile Bahujan Samaj Party government and 1.5 times more than the Samajwadi Party government.

Cane farmers were paid Rs 52,131 crore during the BSP government and Rs 95,215 crore during the Akhilesh regime.

The government spokesperson said that the Yogi Adityanath government has also cleared arrears worth Rs 10,661 crore, pending since the Akhilesh government, to cane farmers.

Sugar mills that got shut during the previous governments were revived by the Yogi Adityanath government and the state now ranks first in sugar production in the country.

The spokesperson said that the state government's initiatives have changed the fate of sugarcane farmers and also the industry.

The state government has crushed more than 4,000 lakh tons of sugarcane and produced a record 476 lakh tonnes of sugar in the four crushing seasons.

In another record production, a total of 280 crore litres of ethanol has been produced in the state through 54 distilleries between 2017 and January 2021, said the spokesperson.

For the first time in 25 years, licenses were issued for setting up 267 new Khandsari units, out of which 176 units have been operationalised.

With an investment of Rs 388 crore in these units, about 20,000 people will get employment opportunities.

Today, 47 per cent of the sugar production in the country is being produced in Uttar Pradesh.

The sugarcane sector contributes 8.45 per cent to the state's GDP and 20.18 per cent to the GDP of the agriculture sector.

While State-of-the-art sugar mills were set up in Pipraich town of Gorakhpur and Mundera town of Basti, the capacity of the closed Ramala Sugar Mill was increased and made operational.

The closed sugar mills of Sambhal and Saharanpur have also been reopened. A cogeneration plant has been set up by increasing the capacity of Baghpat Sugar Mill.

Apart from this, the capacity of 11 private mills was also increased. Venus, Daya and Wave sugar mills that were closed for eight years have also been restarted. Ethanol plants were also set up in Sathiaon and Najibabad cooperative mills, said the spokesperson.