Akhilesh govt to 'remind' Modi of his 'promise' to reopen sugar mill

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday told the state Assembly it will write a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "remind" him of his "promise" of reopening the sugar mill at Padrauna in Kushinagar district.

During Zero Hour, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Khan told the House he would soon write a letter to Modi "reminding" him that while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, he had said he would ensure the reopening of Padrauna sugar mill if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins from the seat.

The matter came up when Congress' Ajay Kumar Lallu, while speaking on an adjournment notice on sugarcane support price, said Modi had promised that Padrauna sugar mill would be started in 100 days if his party was chosen from the seat. "It has been 200 days since he became the prime minister and now the said sugarmill is being auctioned on November 29," Lallu said.

Leader of Opposition Swami Prasad Maurya said he has also written a letter in this regard to the Speaker.

Earlier in their adjournment notices, BJP and Congress demanded fixing of minimum support price of sugarcane at Rs 350 a quintal and the payment of Rs 1,850 crore "dues".

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which demanded an assurance on increase of sugarcane price, and BJP also staged a walkout, accusing the government of being anti-farmer.

Heated exchanges took place between the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) members and Minister for State for Rural Engineering Service Rajendra Singh Rana. The RLD members raised the issue of police lathicharge on BKU agitationists in Muradnagar on September 18 demanding setting up of a memorial of former prime minister Charan Singh in New Delhi.

RLD members Dalbir Singh and Sudesh Sharma said farmers were targeted and cases were registered against 5,000 of them for taking part in the previously announced programme.

Rana said he was present in the district the day the incident took place and said agitationists disturbed the law and order for three hours and beat up policemen.

Even as his comments led the RLD members to barge into the well of the House, Rana said the government would not allow anyone to damage people's life.

Through another notice BSP's Swami Prasad Maurya raised the issue of law and order and cited cases to stress his point.

Azam Khan said that law and order situation in the state was alright and the government would teach a lesson to those who disturb it.

The Speaker, however, disallowed all the notices.