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Yogi govt purchased more wheat in 4 yrs than SP, BSP did in 10 yrs: UP agriculture minister
Uttar Pradesh agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi on Tuesday launched a counterattack on the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress for questioning the ongoing wheat purchase at the minimum support price (MSP) in the state
Uttar Pradesh agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi on Tuesday launched a counterattack on the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress for questioning the ongoing wheat purchase at the minimum support price (MSP) in the state.
He claimed that the total amount of wheat purchased from farmers during the last four years under the Yogi Adityanath government outstripped the amount of total wheat bought by the Congress-supported SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) governments together during their 10-year rule.
“During their 10-year rule between 2007 and 2017, the SP and the BSP governments together purchased 221.07 lakh MT of wheat worth ₹26469.35 crore. Against this, the Yogi Adityanath government bought 218.86 lakh MT of wheat worth ₹39037.01 crore benefitting a record 46,34,828 farmers in just four years,” Shahi said.
He said more than 56 lakh MT of wheat had already been purchased from farmers during the current procurement season alone.
Former CM and SP national president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday demanded the government to release a white paper on the wheat purchase in the state and a day later on Monday Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also raised the issue by writing a letter to CM Yogi Adityanath demanding him to ensure guaranteed wheat purchase from farmers till July 15.
Accusing the SP and the Congress of doing drawing-room politics having no idea of ground realities, the minister said that the statistics clearly showed as to who was farmers’ real well-wisher.
Adityanath government outperformed the SP and the BSP governments in paddy purchase as well as in payment of cane dues to farmers, he said.
“Our government has purchased a record 214.56 lakh MT of paddy worth ₹37825.66 crore from 31,88,529 farmers in just four years against which the SP and the BSP governments together purchased only 238.49 lakh MT of paddy worth ₹28040.98 crore from 18,89,362 farmers in 10 years,” he pointed out.
“Similarly, we have paid as much a ₹137820.96 crore to farmers as cane dues till last Saturday while SP and BSP governments paid only ₹95215 crore cane dues in 10 years,’ he added.
The minister said in food grain production as well as productivity, the Adityanath government had been breaking its own record for last four years due to timely availability of good quality seeds, fertilisers and reliable power supply to farmers.
Shahi said that this was because of a number of welfare measures taken by the government that the farmer’s agitation failed in UP despite all the efforts by the anti-Modi forces.
“The opposition’s act of giving sermons to the Yogi Adityanath government on the issue of farmers is like showing light to the sun,” he said.
