State extends sugar stock limit till Sept

The Cabinet also approved the Budget for the next fiscal 2010-11,the Appropriation Bill and the second supplementary 2009-10.

In another move,the

Cabinet approved a proposal for increasing the limit of the contracts for the SC/STs from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. The hike has been awarded keeping in mind the recent spurt in the prices of various commodities like steel,cement and wages of the labours,the government said.

The state government had earlier introduced 21 per cent reservation for SC and 2 per cent for the ST in contracts offered by the government departments and construction agencies like the PWD,UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam.

The Cabinet also approved a proposal for amending “UP Minerals Concession Rules 1963”,that governs the mining industry in the state. The amendment aims at enabling the BPL people in Naxal-affected areas of the state to take the lease of the mines of stones,boulders and sand. With the amendment in the Mining concession rules,Self Help Groups (SHG) each comprising 20 people belonging to the BPL category will be set up.

These SHGs will be given priority in allotment of lease of mines in the Naxal-affected districts. Such SHGs will be exempted from making advance payment of royalty at the time of allotment of the lease. At least one third of members of the SHGs will be from the SC/ST communities and rest from the Mallah and Kewat castes who are traditionally engaged in the mining of sand,the government said.

As many as districts 607 villages in eight districts of UP have been identified as Naxal affected. The districts are Chandauli,Ghazipur,Mirzapur,Sonbhadra,Mau,Ballia,Deoria and Kushinagar.

Also in the Cabinet

As much as 332 hectares of land belonging to Irrigation Department in 16 districts of the state will be transferred to the UP State Housing and Development Board and urban development authorities. The land will be used for the development of housing colonies and other sectors of urban development. The land will be transferred at the prevailing circle rates of stamp duty in each district. According to the government the towns cities where the land of the irrigation department is lying unused are Lucknow,Sitapur,Jaunpur,Raibareli,Kanpur (Nagar),Mau,Mahoba,Banda,Bareilly,Meerut,Ghaziabad,Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida) Muzaffarnagar,Agra,Mathura and Aligarh.

Maya angry at Centre move on sugar: Pawar
NEW DELHI: Under attack from UP Chief Minister Mayawati over rising prices,Union Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday hit back,suggesting that her comments were prompted by the Centre finding a way out of UP government’s restriction on processing raw sugar and less guided by the rise in prices. “The UP government had put restrictions on processing imported raw sugar. The Centre has found the way (to process outside UP),I think she must have got angry,” Pawar said in response to a question on the sidelines of a function organised by Rural Development Ministry in New Delhi.

On Wednesday,Mayawati had threatened to boycott the chief ministers’ meet called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss ways to tackle rising prices if Pawar was not removed from the ministry.

Pawar said on Thursday that the meeting was likely to be postponed to February 6 as several chief ministers have conveyed to the Centre that it would be difficult for them reach Delhi on January 27 morning after Republic Day celebrations.