Farmers Movement Archive

Top officers fan out across Uttar Pradesh over three days, meet farmers

LUCKNOW: Nodal officers appointed by chief minister Yogi Adityanath for inspection of paddy and cane purchase centres, cow shelters and to meet with farmers, panned out across the state between Saturday and Monday. The officials have been asked to submit their reports to the CM by Tuesday. The aim of this exercise, said an official, was to reach out to the state’s farmers amid more than a month-long massive protests by farmers at Delhi’s border against the new farm laws, and convey to them the steps being taken by the state government for their welfare. “Officials were asked to visit paddy and cane purchase centres and inspect their working, ensuring that farmers are not facing any problems while selling their produce. Subsequently, they were to hold dialogues with farmers and understand their problems, inspect the irrigation facilities and power availability and check the functioning of cow shelters. They spent three days in the field and most returned to Lucknow by Monday night,” said the official. Additional chief secretary (agriculture) Devesh Chaturvedi was appointed nodal officer for Varanasi where he inspected paddy purchase centres on Monday and interacted with farmers. ACS (backward welfare) Hemant Rao inspected paddy purchase centres in Auraiya. ACS (sugarcane and excise) Sanjay Bhoosreddy, principal secretary Dimple Verma and Kanpur divisional commissioner Rajshekhar also inspected paddy purchase centres and progress under the ongoing varasat scheme apart from interacting with villagers. ACS (information) Navneet Seghal visited Bareilly where he reviewed the arrangements for Covid-19 vaccination and directed officials to ensure that at least 3,000 persons were tested each day. He also visited the local hospital and met with patients. Sehgal visited a paddy purchase centre in Bahedi and spoke to farmers there. Some farmers complained that their produce was being under weighed. They also said that they were facing problems in getting their produce weighed due to a shortage of purchase centres in Bareilly. Sehgal directed the Bareilly DM to increase the number of centres in the area. He then held a chaupal with villagers of Gurwara and heard out their problems. The villagers asked for construction of drains along a new highway near the village as the area gets flooded in rain. Sehgal has directed the chief development officer of Bareilly to look into the complaints. Subsequently, he also visited a cow shelter in Bahera.

The Times of India

2020-12-29

Lucknow