E-Paper
Akhilesh: BJP’s wrong policies ruining farmers
In a press statement, Yadav said farmers were not getting fertilizers as the government had failed to check its black marketing. Earlier, DAP was not available at the time of sowing of wheat and other crops and now urea was unavailable. The farmers were forced to stand in queues in the cold for long to get fertilizer, he said.
Lucknow: National president of Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav said here on Wednesday that the wrong policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) double engine government had ruined the farmers. For the past six years the party had been making false promises to farmers to double their income but the latter were feeling cheated now, he said.
In a press statement, Yadav said farmers were not getting fertilizers as the government had failed to check its black marketing. Earlier, DAP was not available at the time of sowing of wheat and other crops and now urea was unavailable. The farmers were forced to stand in queues in the cold for long to get fertilizer, he said.
The farmers did not get MSP for their crops while middlemen dominated the procurement of paddy, he said, adding now another blow was in store in the form of increased electricity rates.
The sugarcane arrears of the last crushing season had not been cleared by the mills and the state government was not making any effort in this regard, he said. The neglect of sugarcane farmers could be gauged from the fact that it was mid-January but the sugarcane price had not been announced for the new season. The government was cheating the sugarcane farmers, he said.
Yadav said the Samajwadi Party demanded immediate declaration of sugarcane price and payment of cane arrears to farmers. Stray cattle had added to the woes of the farmers, he said, adding hundreds of farmers and common people had died in attacks by stray and violent animals. During the 2022 assembly elections, the Prime Minister had assured the people to solve the problem of stray cattle but in a year the problem had worsened, he said.
The agriculture sector played important role in the recovery of the economy during the Covid pandemic. The plan of the BJP government to bring prosperity through investment conferences by neglecting agriculture would prove to be a mere dream, Akhilesh said. The BJP continued to make a lot of noise about local and foreign investment but it could not develop the country by destroying the agriculture sector, he said.
BOX
SP Vyapar Sabha protest
The Samajwadi Party Vyapar Sabha organized a state-wide protest on Wednesday against the proposed increase in electricity rates of all categories in the state. The office-bearers and members of the Sabha handed over a memorandum to the district administration officers, demanding immediate withdrawal of the proposed hike.
The outgoing state president of Samajwadi Vyapar Sabha and former MLA Sanjay Garg said the proposed hike in electricity rates would give a jolt to the common man. The BJP government came to power on the slogan of sabka saath- sabka vikas but was working contrary to the slogan. It was working for the development of capitalists. Instead of reducing the electricity bill to provide relief to the common people, the state government was adding to their misery by increasing their electricity bills, he said.
