Mulayam says govt committed to serving interests of farmers

Bulandshahar, Uttar Pradesh, July 16 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today asserted his government was committed to serving the interests of farmers and accelerating all-round development of the state.

He said it was for the first time that farmers were paid Rs 18,000 crore during the last three years, as the price of sugarcane supplied by them to sugar mills in the state.

Mr Yadav said his government had ensured the payment of the remunerative price of sugarcane to farmers, besides giving unemployment allowance to educated youths, and Rs 20,000 to each intermediate pass girl student, to enable the women folk to study higher.

He said the unemployment allowance of Rs 500 per month would be doubled if he formed the government again.

Addressing a public meeting at the college ground in B B Nagar soon after announcing schemes of Rs 155 crore for all round development of Bulandshahr district, the Chief minister said like the late Charan Singh, whom he regarded as his mentor, he too was committed to improving the lot of farmers.

He criticised the Centre for its faulty policies and said that the state government looked after the welfare of the peasantry.

'''That was why,'' he said, ''not even a single farmer took the extreme step in the state, while a large number of farmers committed suicide in other states.

Mr Yadav described as baseless, the campaign that farmers, whose land was acquired for establishment of an ambitious power project at Dadri, had not been given compensation.

He said his government had decided that the land for the power project would be acquired from farmers after obtaining their consent and the industrialist, setting up the power state at Dadri, would pay for acquiring the land directly.

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