Record wheat purchase by Yogi govt in 53 days: BJP

The Uttar Pradesh government has made a record wheat purchase of 23.20 thousand metric tonnes in just 53 days, the BJP state unit said today.

During the previous Samajwadi Party regime, total wheat purchase was just 7.9 thousand metric tonnes, BJP's state spokesman Shalabh Mani Tripathi claimed.

"The state government has made a record by purchasing 23.20 thousand metric tonnes wheat in just 53 days. The wheat purchase, which started from April 1, is still on and will continue till Jun 15," he told reporters here.

Tripathi said the wheat purchase process has "demoralised middlemen", while benefitting farmers by crediting Rs 3,500 crore directly to their accounts.

The state government has started 5,000 wheat purchase centres across Uttar Pradesh from Apr 1.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had revised the wheat purchase target and the government agencies have been asked to buy 70 lakh tonne of the total target of 80 lakh tonnes in 2017.

The BJP spokesman said the record has been achieved very soon as the Chief Minister had also warned the officials against any laxity in the wheat purchase process.