Yogi distributes share certificates to farmers

Lucknow, July 11 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday distributed share certificates to 50.10 lakh farmers registered with the cooperative sugarcane societies and cooperative sugar mill societies. Distribution was done to make the functioning of cooperative cane and sugar mill societies in the state completely transparent and accountable.
Addressing the farmers on the occasion at Lok Bhawan in the state capital, Yogi said, “Farmers have been our top-most priority and all our efforts have been made keeping their welfare paramount. Today’s event has revived the cooperative movement of the country and our farmers are now on their way to not only be participants but also the owners of the system they are associated with.” He said, “I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards all our farmers for their contribution towards making the state the number one economy despite the natural challenges put forward by the varying seasons.” Emphasizing the importance of technology in ensuring transparency and making functioning hassle-free, the CM said, “We increased the use of technology to benefit our farmers, ensure their hard work bears appropriate results, and end the dominance of the sugarcane mafia and other corrupt elements existing in the system.”He said that it was technology that the sugar mills continued to function even during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Unlike states like Maharashtra and Karnataka, where all the mills were shut down, we took risks, prepared a system, set up covid helpdesks to safeguard lives and livelihoods and look after our farmers even during challenging times,” he said. Criticizing the previous state governments, the CM said, “Previous governments used to take one-sided decisions aimed at their own benefits, shoot farmers, shut down sugar mills and give protection to sugarcane mafias, on the contrary, we ensured timely payment to farmers, re-started closed sugar mills.
, got distilleries installed, and eliminated all corrupt practices by utilization of technology.”
He said that his government has so far paid a record Rs 1.77 lakh crore directly to sugarcane farmers, which is about three times more than the annual budget of many states and far more than what was paid to the farmers between 2007 and 2017. “We have already paid about 82 percent of the sugarcane price for this year as well,” he said. He said the sugarcane committees that became dysfunctional and inefficient by the previous governments have been reactivated. Stating that no sugar mills will remain in a loss in the coming times and that the government is working on a permanent solution for sugarcane farmers of UP, he said sugarcane will also be used to produce ethanol abundantly to tackle the ups and downs of the sugar market.
Yogi said, “Most of the sugar mills have made their payment in a time-bound manner, we are also working to ensure all mills do the same. We have also implemented a system through which, if a person has invested his money in some other industry and his sugar mill has become inefficient in terms of making payments, then the money made through the industry will also be diverted to make payments.”
He said that when the farmers become the shareholders of the committee, they also become eligible to benefit from the profits of the committee.
He said that the state government is going ahead with the plan of the revival of sugar mills, ensuring gradual expansion of the old mills and for their modernization and up-gradation. “We are working on a plan to set up an integrated complex to ensure production of biofuel and to make sure farmers get benefits even through raw materials,” he said.