Lucknow: A day after the state government raised the cane state advisory price by Rs 20 per quintal, CM Yogi Adityanath said that the decision was taken as a “good gesture” ahead of the consecration at Ram temple on Jan 22.

He said that this was also done while keeping in mind the tradition of offering food to the deity ‘Annapurna’ before the worship of God.

“When our government was formed, the support price for sugarcane was set at Rs 315 per quintal, but the farmers were not receiving that amount. We took action and now 105 out of 120 sugar mills are making payments for sugarcane within 10 days. Efforts are also underway to achieve 100% payment,” Yogi said during the Ganna Kisan Samvad programme in Lucknow.
Yogi also highlighted how his government waived loans of 86 lakh farmers. “Farmers were compelled to commit suicide due to overwhelming debt. There was no arrangement for electricity, fertilisers and irrigation,” he said.

“When our government was formed, only about 110 sugar mills were barely operational. They also had pending sugarcane payments from 2010 to 2017. We prioritised clearing the pending payments to sugarcane farmers and got 120 sugar mills operational,” he said.

The CM said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, while sugar mills in other states were closing, UP continued the operations of sugar mills. Omveer Choudhary from Meerut said that the increase in sugarcane prices has elevated the mood of farmers.

UP BJP Kisan Morcha president Kameshwar Singh expressed happiness over the increase in sugarcane SAP.