Aiming to boost the defunct khandsari (gur) industry and generate jobs and benefit cane growers, the state government has brought about a transparent khandsari policy effective from April 1, 2018.
The new policy will encourage investors to set up new khandsari units or revive old and closed down units.
The government has also decided to hand over 50 acres of land of Dhuriyapar sugar mill in Gorakhpur to Indian Oil Corporation Limited for setting up a second generation ethanol manufacturing plant .
These decisions were taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow on Tuesday.
State government spokesperson and Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said that the move to revive khandsari industry would pave way for better health and lifestyle of citizens.
“The new policy will have several sops for khandsari units and it will revive the old and closed down units. The government has also shortened the distance for setting up khandsari unit from 15 kilometre radius of a sugar mill to 7.5 km. Besides, there will be speedy approval of new units in two hours,” the government spokesman said.
Singh said that it was unfortunate that while in 1995-96 there were 1,082 khandsari units in the Uttar Pradesh, their number had came down to just 165 as on date.
Sugarcane Development Minister Suresh Rana said that already 40 new khandsari licences had been issued for crushing 9,000 TCD that was equal to four sugar mills.
“Besides, 15 more licences are in the pipeline and they will be equal to two sugar mills. The government has waived penalty and taxes on old and closed down units and there will be no objection to shifting of any unit from one place to another,” Rana said.
The minister claimed that UP had already produced 120 lakh quintal of sugar in 2017-18, becoming the largest producer of sugar in India with 38 per cent share.
He charged the previous governments in the state with acting against khandsari units.
Meanwhile, the government also approved a proposal to hand over 50 acres of land of Dhuriyapar sugar mill to IOCL on a 30-year lease for setting up a plant to produce ethanol. Singh said that the IOCL would set up a biomass-based second generation ethanol plant and the government would earn Rs 1.30 crore per year as rent of the land.
In another decision, the state government, in order to promote dairy and take it to block level, announced Nand Baba Award for small milk producers.
Singh said that milk producers having 1,500 litres per day output would be considered for the award and the government would spend Rs 52 lakh annually on this scheme.
The government has also sanctioned funds for seven new medical colleges to come up in Etah (Rs 216.8 crore), Deoria (Rs 201.9 crore), Fatehpur (Rs 212.50 crore), Ghazipur (Rs 220.45 crore), Hardoi (Rs 206.33 crore), Pratapgarh (Rs 213 crore) and Siddharthnagar (Rs 245.11 crore).
