Previous govt siphoned off funds meant for farmers’ relief: Yogi

Lucknow ( Raghwendra Pratap Singh) :

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government of siphoning off funds meant for farmers’ relief. He claimed that the SP’s alleged malpractice had cost it politically, adding that “the curse of farmers and the anger of the common people sank the SP ship”.

Yogi was addressing a gathering at Baba Gambhir Nath auditorium in Gorakhpur after transferring ₹493 crore in crop-loss compensation to 9,18,091 farmers affected by floods, excessive rainfall and hailstorms across Uttar Pradesh. He said relief funds were now being transferred directly to beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

During the SP government, there was no electricity supply, but electricity bills would arrive. Now, farmers do not receive electricity bills, but they get electricity,” he said.He accused the Opposition of dividing society along caste lines and alleged that its leaders were unwilling to ensure that public money reached its intended beneficiaries.

Referring to the welfare delivery system under previous Congress governments, Yogi recalled former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s observation that only ₹15 out of every ₹100 released by the government reached the intended beneficiary. He claimed that eliminating middlemen from the compensation process had ensured that the entire sanctioned amount reached farmers directly.