The Yogi Adityanath-headed BJP Government would waive off the Rs 36,000-crore farmers’ loan in the State in phases in four years, with an announcement to this effect to be made during the coming Assembly session by the end of this month or early July.
The loan waiver to farmers was promised in the BJP’s ‘lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra’ before the election and the Yogi dispensation stamped its approval to it in its first Cabinet meeting.
It is estimated that a list of 1.5 crore famers has been prepared and the amount needed would go beyond the Rs 36,000 crore.
According to UP’s Health Minister and State Government’s spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh, the loan waiver for farmers would be staggered over four years and involve a total amount of Rs 36,000 crore.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel has, however, been cautioning against such a practice, with the latest being on Wednesday.
Singh refused to be drawn to RBI’s view on loan waiver maintaining that BJP was fulfilling its election promise to the farmers and that the relief is for small and marginal farmers for a laon amount of Rs 1 lakh.
Singh, who was in the national Capital, along with State Civil Aviation Minister Nand Kumar Gupta, met Union Civil Aviation Minister for State Jayant Sinha to seek the “revival” of the Jewar International Airport proposal in Noida. Singh said they requested Sinha to initiate a feasibility report on Jewar afresh to which the latter agreed. The previous SP Government in UP had said no to the Jewar airport proposal.
“Sinha would be in lucknow on June 14 to meet the Chief Minster and Jewar could be discussed then,” he said. The UP Minister said already the Indira Gandhi International Airport is handling people beyond its capacity and a decision has to be taken on the second airport in the suburb of the National Capital Region.
The Health Minister said a plan is afoot to upgrade aviation connectivity between different regions and cities in the state which may fuel industrialisation and tourism in the state. He said this connectivity could be elevated by way of ‘fixed wing’ planes and helicopters in the cities like Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, Benaras, Kushinagar, Gorkhpur and other towns and cities. He said improved connectivity would give a boost to tourist flow to ‘Budha tourist circuit’ and those going for ‘Ganga Darshan’ He said Benaras and Allahabad could be linked by helicopter connectivity and so could be Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Mathura and Vidhyanchal.
Maintaining that UP is one of the most backward states in the country, Singh said Niti Ayog Chairman had on May 18 visited and met Chief Minister and listed seven areas like family welfare, nutrition, sanitation, agriculture , industrialisation, rural development and ease of doing business where drastic improvement could be made and facilitate transformation of the State.
He said State Government has planned to construct 6000 dams in Bundelkhand region to help drip irrigation there.