Lucknow, April 26: Surcharge on power for farmers has been waived off with immediate effect, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced on Thursday evening.

Spending the night at a village in Amroha under the Bharatiya Janata Party's Gram Swarajya outreach to villagers, he urged the farmers to cooperate with the state government and in turn get the best from it.

Also announcing the one-time settlement scheme for farmers, the Chief Minister also detailed various schemes of the Central and state BJP governments aimed at benefitting the villages and farmers. 

Adding that mass marriages will be conducted by the state government across the state, he also said that the state government was working on an action plan under which closed factories, projects and industries would be revived so that they can usher in development and create employment. 

At a point, during his address, some youths carrying placards demanded that Urdu teachers be regularized. While police and officials got jitters at this sudden protest, the Chief Minister himself handled the matter, assuring the youth that he was here to address their problems only and hence there was no need to protest. The youth then withdrew their protest.

Pointing out the commitment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to develop villages, Adityanath said that since his government was taken over, many works had been initiated in this direction.

Underlining how he had given free hand to police to bring criminals to justice and to ensure safety and security to the people, he said that the rule of law had been established in the state and that all-round prosperity would soon be seen by the people.

The Chief Minister also assured the youth present in the gathering that the state government would soon enroll 1.62 lakh people in the police and 1.32 lakh teachers will also be recruited. He announced that the crackdown on graft and corrupt officials will continue and added that properties and assets of such corrupt officials and government employees will be confiscated.

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Ahmedabad, Apr 25: The Gujarat Congress on Friday suspended from the party for six years its Surat Lok Sabha candidate Nilesh Kumbhani, whose nomination form was rejected over discrepancies leading to the BJP's Mukesh Dalal getting elected unopposed.

A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part or "in connivance with the BJP".

"To be fair to you we have given time to you to explain your case but instead of coming before the party disciplinary committee you have gone incommunicado. After your form was rejected by the authorities, BJP went ahead and got form of other eight candidates withdrawn. This has deprived people of Surat their voting rights," the Congress disciplinary committee headed by Balu Patel said.

"People of Surat and party workers have become very angry due to your action and are expressing their anger in different ways. The Congress party has decided to suspend you for six years from the party," the press note said.

Kumbhani's nomination form was rejected on April 21 after his three proposers submitted affidavits to the district returning officer claiming the signatures on the document was not theirs.

The nomination form of Suresh Padsala, the Congress' substitute candidate from Surat, was also invalidated on the same grounds.

In his order, Returning Officer Sourabh Pardhi said the three nomination forms submitted by Kumbhani and Padsala were rejected after prima facie discrepancy was found in the signatures of the proposers and they did not appear to be genuine.

Kumbhani, a former corporator from Surat, had unsuccessfully fought the 2022 Assembly polls from Kamrej there.

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed from Surat Lok Sabha constituency on April 22 after all other nominees, including one from BSP, withdrew from the fray one by one on the last day of withdrawing papers.