Lucknow, 23 March. Many important decisions to farmers, energy and investment were taken in the cabinet meeting chaired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. After the meeting, Cabinet Minister Suresh Khanna, Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi and Energy Minister Arvind Kumar Sharma informed about the decisions. A total of 37 proposals were brought in the cabinet meeting, out of which 2 proposals were postponed. These include proposals to sugar industry and Lakhimpur Kheri.

Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi said that this year the minimum support price of wheat has been set at Rs 2585 per quintal by the Government of India, which is Rs 160 per quintal more than last year. He informed that wheat procurement will be done from March to June 15. 6500 purchasing centers will be created in all 75 districts of the state and procurement will be done through 8 agencies.

These agencies include Food Corporation of India (FCI), UP Mandi Parishad, PCF, PCU, UPSS, NAFED and NCCF. Energy Minister Arvind Kumar Sharma said that the government has purchased coal block in Dumka (Jharkhand) for Rs 2242.90 crore. With this, three units of 660 MW located at Ghatampur will get coal.

He said that at present coal has to be procured from far away, but if it is supplied from Jharkhand, power generation will be cheaper and consumers will be able to get cheap electricity up to about 80 paise per unit. The state government has approved a new policy to promote solar energy.

Ayodhya is being developed as a solar city, while there is a plan to make all the municipal corporations also solar cities. Apart from this, a solar plant will be installed in Chilua Tal of Gorakhpur, which will be established by Coal India Limited. For this the government has provided 80 acres of land.

Senior IAS officer Alok Kumar said that the private business park construction plan has been approved, which will boost investment and create new employment opportunities. Also, Integrated Logistics Center will be developed in Sambhal, which will be handed over to investors. The government says that these decisions will give new impetus to agriculture, energy and industrial development in Uttar Pradesh.