SP govt doing nothing to end UP farmers' woes: PM

KUSHINAGAR: Addressing a rally on the BJP's parivartan yatra route in poll-bound UP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a potshot at Samajwadi Party's reported family feud and said if their fight is over, if they have time, if they are concerned about farmers and if they have time to think about the poor, they should implement Pradhan Mantri Farmers Insurance Scheme.
"Central government is ready to give the money...the state government has to work on the scheme but they are not interested," said Modi, adding, "I don't think they would be able to do anything now as they have no interest in solving the farmers' problems."
Attacking UP government, Modi said he was now tired of writing to the state government to ensure de-silting of Gandhak canal as the water was not reaching the tail.Nothing has happened, he said, adding that farmers were not able to get their fields irrigated.
"Umpteen number of times I told UP government that Centre was ready to dole money under NREGS and that they should get the canal cleaned," said Modi, adding, "If filth is removed and canal is cleaned, it would benefit the farmers, so why play unnecessary politics?"
In a region which was once a sugar bowl, the UP cane farmers' dues were pending at Rs 22,000 crore in 2014 and 2015, said the prime minister, adding the Centre gave direct assistance to farmers. Earlier, Union minister Kalraj Misra, Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath and others too addressed the rally. This was Modi's third rally out of six planned over a month. Kushinagar rally was the second in eastern UP region after the one at Ghazipur on November 14.