UP: Senior officials visit procurement centres, speak to farmers

On the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, senior officials of the state administration on Monday visited districts to take stock of the projects. The senior bureaucrats have been told to make extensive field trips, including visits to paddy and sugarcane procurement centres, and speak to farmers and resolve their issues. They have also been told to inspect cow shelters.

Senior officers, including those belonging to Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary ranks who have been made nodal officers of different districts, have been asked to enquire if district administrative officials – right from the District Magistrates to tehsildars — have held a dialogue with the different farmers’ unions at the district level or not, an official release issued here on Monday said.

The nodal officers have been asked to submit their report after a thorough review on Tuesday to the Chief Minister, the release said.

The officers have been given the power to order strict action against those found guilty of any anomalies in the purchase of paddy at the procurement centres and submit their reports back to the Government.

They have been told to review irrigation arrangements such as canal inspection electricity supply, and the ongoing “Varasat Abhiyan” — a government drive launched recently to resolve property disputes to tackle land mafia in the state — as well as police-related complaints.

On Monday, Additional Chief Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi inspected cow shelters and visited the wheat procurement centres in Varanasi.

While Additional Chief Secretary Hemanant Rao visited Auraiya, his counterpart Navneet Sehgal was in Bareilly where he also reviewed preparations for the Covid vaccination drive. He interacted with farmers at a chaupal organised at Gudvara Primary School in the district.

Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay Bhoosreddy visited Gorakhpur, and Kanpur Divisional Commissioner Rajshekar reviewed projects in Etawah, while Principal Secretary (PWD) Nitin Gokaran took stock of the government works in Aligarh.

According to officials, farmers shared several problems with them, right from electricity supply to long queue or waitlist at the procurement centres.