Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has asked the NRIs residing in Mauritius to take advantage of UP Government’s “Find Your Root” scheme and visit the places where their ancestors were born and have grown up.
“This will be a nostalgic feeling for you people to visit the villages of your ancestors. The Government of Uttar Pradesh will help you to find your ancestor’s village under our `Find Your Root Scheme”. The Tourism department is the nodal agency which will work in tandem with district administration to find the village,” Yogi said while addressing a function in Port louis organized by the Indian Ambassador in Mauritius on Friday.
He said that India and Mauritius enjoy an old relation. The ties have been further cemented after Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card for NRIs in 2015. The OCI card holders automatically gets lifelong visa and does not need to apply for visa while coming to India. They are further entitled for basic facilities which an Indian enjoys in India, Chief Minister said.
He also distributed OCI to some of nine beneficiaries two of them are from Gorakhpur. “This is a big achievement for about 10,500 NRIs living in Mauritius as they are free to visit the village of their ancestors without ant hassles,” he said.
Talking about the tourism possibilities in Uttar Pradesh he said that the birth place of lord Ram and lord Krishna lies in UP. Besides, there are many historical places and the region is also blessed with natural beauty. People who have OCI or who does not have this card too should come to UP and visit this place at least once, he said.
later Yogi also visited the Ramayana centre and sought information about propagating Ramayana and research done on this Holy book. “This is commendable that Ramayana Centre will help in inculcating values to Ramayana among the children of Mauritius,” he said.
Talking about ` Dipotasava’ his government had celebrated in Ayodhya on October 18, Yogi said that everyone knows that lord Ram was born in Ayodhya and Diwali is celebrated because of lord Ram’s return to Ayodhya but no government ever thought about improving infrastructure of this holy city.
“The Dipotsava has sent the message around world as how the city might had been decked with diyas (earthen lamps) in Trta Yug when lord ram returned to Ayodhya after vanquishing Ravana. Our Government has also started Ram leela and now three Ram leelas will be held across the year,” Yogi said.