On Thursday, Chief Minister Harish Rawat announced reliefs to the Uttarakhand police and sugarcane farmers by approving funds meant to redress their long-standing grievances.
For the police, the State Government has approved Rs87.12 crore which will be used to pay the arrears of the police. While 50 percent i.e. Rs43.56 crore will be released through the State Contingency Fund with immediate effect, the remaining 50 percent allocation will be made available in the upcoming State budget to be presented for the year 2016-17.
It would be pertinent to mention here that the police had launched Mission Aakrosh in 2015 demanding clearance of the pending arrears. Rattled by it, the State Government had assured them that they would look into the matter.
To alleviate the plight of the sugarcane growers, the State Government has approved special relief package worth Rs88 crore for several sugar mills. With the funds approved, the sugar mills would now be able to disburse the arrears of their farmers. By way of breakups, Rs23 crore has been approved for the mill based at Gadarpur while Rs5 crore for the one at Doiwala, Rs12.5 crore for one at Bajpur, Rs11.9 crore for one at Kichchha, Rs5 crore for one at Nadehi and Rs7.5 crore for Sitarganj Sugar mill. Besides, the State Government has also approved Rs23 crore to pay the salary and VRS of the employees of Gadarpur Sugar Mill. Notably, after the closure of Gadarpur Sugar Mill, 187 employees opted for VRS. The remaining employees would be merged with those located at Doiwala, Bajpur, Kichchha, Sitarganj and Nadehi.