Presenting the report card of his government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Uttar Pradesh embarked on the journey from safety and security to prosperity in the last five years under the double engine government.
Addressing a press conference at the Bharatiya Janata Party office here Yogi said that if Uttar Pradesh had emerged as the second state in the country in terms of ease of doing business and was attracting huge investments in different sectors today despite the challenge posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic, it was because of the government’s concerted efforts to restore law and order in the state.
Giving a detailed list of achievements of his government, Yogi said that the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party governments waived loans worth Rs 167 crore and Rs 3,000 crore respectively of farmers whereas the BJP government waived loans worth Rs 36,000 crore of 86 lakh farmers in the last five years.
He said while the BSP and SP governments bought 240 metric tonnes and 217 metric tonnes of food grains (wheat and rice) respectively, the BJP government had purchased 494 metric tonnes, including 275 metric tonnes of wheat and 219 metric tonnes of rice.
“The BJP government has made a record payment of Rs 1.57 lakh crore to the sugarcane farmers in four and a half years against payment of Rs 52,000 crore and Rs 95,000 respectively by BSP and SP governments during their tenures,” the chief minister said, adding that his government had expanded and modernised 20 sugar mills whereas several sugar mills were shut down during previous regimes.
Yogi said to improve irrigation facilities in the state, the BJP government completed 18 pending canal projects such as the Saryu Canal Project pending since 1972 and Bansagar Canal Project among others.
Speaking on his government’s action against the mafia, Yogi said that while gangsters and mafias flourished under the patronage of BSP and SP governments, the BJP government cracked down on them, seizing and demolishing their illegal properties worth Rs 2,046 crore.
He said that 364 riots took place during BSP government and 700 during SP government whereas not a single riot or a terror act had occurred during the BJP government.
“According to the NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau) data, there was a decline of 42.5 per cent in rapes, 63.73 per cent in robberies, 57.75 per cent in dacoities, 22.70 per cent in murders, and 52.31 per cent in kidnappings for ransom in 2020 compared to 2016,” the chief minister said.
Yogi said that UP’s per capita income had more than doubled, increasing from Rs 46,000 annually in 2016 to Rs 94,000 whereas unemployment rate had dropped from 17.5 per cent in 2016-17 to 3 per cent in January, 2022.
He said the annual budget of the UP government had increased from Rs 2 lakh crore during the previous government to Rs 6 lakh crore in 2021-22, adding that in implementation of welfare schemes for the poor and needy, UP topped in north India.
Yogi said that memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 4.68 lakh crore had been signed during the last five years of which investments worth Rs 3.66 lakh had already been made in the state, including Rs 66,000 crore during the pandemic.
Hitting out at SP and BSP, Yogi said that there was rampant corruption in recruitment of policemen during their governments while the BJP government ensured complete transparency in appointment of 1.43 lakh police personnel, including 20,234 female cops, and promotion of more than 82,000 non-gazetted police officials.
He said the government had also set up cyber cells in every district to control cybercrime and was working on setting up a forensic science institute in Lucknow. He said the BJP government in UP had also modernised the police force in terms of equipment and training.
Furthermore, Yogi said that 43 lakh houses and 1.61 crore toilets had been provided to the poor whereas 528.62 lakh free LPG connections had been given. He said free electricity connections had been provided to 1.45 crore people whereas electrification of 1.21 lakh villages had also taken place in BJP rule.
Yogi said that the government had successfully overcome the three waves of COVID-19 pandemic, protecting both lives and livelihood of people. He said that the state had achieved self-sufficiency in production of oxygen with the setting up of 551 oxygen plants while two AIIMS institutes had already been set up in the state and work was underway to establish medical universities across the state.
The chief minister said that with increasing investments in the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector, 1.61 crore youths had got employment opportunities while 19,93,625 Scheduled Caste students under Grade 10 and 52,63,082 Scheduled Caste students of higher classes had received scholarships worth Rs 506.97 crore and Rs 6,636.63 crore respectively in the last five years.
Yogi said that out of the 15 lakh laptops purchased by the SP government only 6 lakh were distributed to students whereas the BJP government had given one crore tablets and smart phones to students.
He said that the Jewar International Airport and the Film City which were coming up in Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority area would open up vast employment opportunities for the youth of the state.
Moreover, Yogi said that prior to 2017, only one and a half expressways and two international airports existed in UP while the BJP government had already completed Purvanchal Expressway and Meerut-Delhi Expressway while work was in final stage on Bundelkhand Expressway and construction of Ganga Expressway had started. He said that Uttar Pradesh would become the state with the highest number of five international airports in future.
“At the same time, we are speeding up the work of Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway. Along with that rapid work is underway to bring up the expressway between Varanasi to Kolkata and Gorakhpur to Siliguri,” he added.
The chief minister said that only 496 bridges were constructed in the state between 2007 and 2017, whereas the BJP government built more than 900 bridges in the last five years.