UP is top ethanol producer after integration with sugar sector: Adityanath

The state produces more than 1,126 mn litres a year, CM claims

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath said on Wednesday said that his government has successfully integrated the sugar sector with ethanol production for the accrual of sustainable benefit to sugarcane farmers.

Speaking in the state legislative assembly in Lucknow, Adityanath said owing to the measures taken by his government, UP has emerged as the country’s top ethanol producer with an annual capacity of more than 1,126 million litres.

He said, earlier UP sugar mills were either shutting down their operations or were being sold off at throwaway prices during the previous regimes. The present government facilitated Rs 88,000 crore of cane payment to farmers over the past nearly three years, even in the face of falling global sugar prices.

“During the last 18-19 years, 21 UP sugar mills were sold leaving farmers in the lurch and taking away large number of jobs, especially in the erstwhile sugar bowl of Gorakhpur division,” he added.

The CM said while nearly half of the mills in other sugar producing states had closed down, all the mills were still operational in UP and would continue to crush till all the cane gets exhausted for the season. He said the state was also supporting the rural based industries of khandsari (unprocessed sugar) and gur (jiggery).

Adityanath claimed the state was providing higher than the minimum support prices (MSP) to farmers in government procurement for wheat, paddy, oilseeds, pulses etc to buttress his point of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having a pro-farmer agenda.

“Under the ongoing irrigation and canal schemes, nearly 2 million hectares of additional land would come under irrigation network, which would bring prosperity to the farmers,” he noted.

He said the perception of UP had gone a positive transformation under his government owing to better law and order, clean governance and greater private investment. Referring to the recently concluded DefExpo 2020 in Lucknow, the CM said the mega show had witnessed the participation of defence ministers and defence force chiefs of 70 countries, apart from the participation of 130 foreign companies, 3,000 foreign delegates and 10,000 other delegates and visitors.

“The infrastructure sector is growing fast and a network of mega expressways is developing in the state. The under-construction Purvanchal Expressway will be thrown open to public by the year end,” he added.