Cong promises farm debt waiver, Rs 400/quintal sugarcane price

Lucknow

Congress, which has been in the political wilderness for the past three decades in Uttar Pradesh (UP), on Wednesday February 9 promised farm debt waiver and subsidized power in the UP election manifesto.

“We promise to waive the farm debt within 10 days of forming the government in UP,” Congress general secretary in charge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, flanked by senior Congressman Salman Khurshid, said addressing the media at the state party headquarters.

Releasing the party’s manifesto, Vadra said the document had been prepared after taking the feedback of the people and incorporating their popular aspirations.

The party promised to fix the per quintal price of sugarcane and paddy/wheat at Rs 400 and Rs 2,500 respectively if voted to power. The Congress government would procure cow dung at the rate of Rs 2 per kg for composting.

The release of the Congress manifesto comes a day after the respective election documents were issued by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and principal opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) in the state.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav had also announced that if voted to power, his government would make the state farm sector debt-free by 2027.

Meanwhile, Vadra said the Congress government would reduce the power bills by half, while the outstanding electricity bills pertaining to the Covid period would be waived off.

“We will give an ex gratia of Rs 25,000 to the families hit economically due to the pandemic,” she announced. The Congress government would provide an ex gratia amount of Rs 50 lakh to the families of the deceased Corona warriors.

The party has promised to generate two million government jobs in addition to filling up 1.2 million alleged vacant posts in the state. Forty per cent of these jobs would be reserved for women candidates.

If voted to power, the party said, it would scrap the contractual job template in the government departments and also regularise the employment of Shiksha Mitra (para teachers).

She said the party favoured taking a middle path with regards to the scrapped Old Pension Scheme for the welfare of the government employees and pensioners.

The party announced to give sub-quota reservations to the most deprived sections. One post would be reserved for ex-services personnel in UP Vidhan Parishad (legislative council).

“We will also scrap the police cases filed against the media persons in cases pertaining to their independent reportage,” Vadra added.

The party promised to facilitate collateral-free loans to the MSME sector, while electric vehicles would be promoted for the government departments to curb air and noise pollution.

Vadra said the Congress government would procure solar energy at the rate of Rs 4.5 per unit to promote the solar and renewable-energy sector.