Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Tuesday, said that the Uttar Pradesh government would take forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resolve to make urban areas completely free from garbage.
In a 3-day conference-cum-expo organised on the 'New Urban India: Transforming Urban Landscape’ theme at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan, the chief minister said, “The state government will work on a mission mode to keep the urban areas free from garbage, preserve water and prevent sewage from falling into rivers.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the conference-cum-expo here. Along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Governor Anandiben Patel and Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri were also present on the occasion.
Welcoming the Prime Minister, Yogi said that he was grateful that the prime minister chose Lucknow for this workshop. “The importance of urban development can be seen in Uttar Pradesh, the state with the largest population in the country. The state has completely changed the urban environment,” he said.
“In the last four-and-a-half years, UP has achieved many landmarks in urban development. Gram panchayats with a population of more than 25,000 have been recognised as municipal bodies. Thus, 654 municipal bodies have been increased to 734. The government has also done the work of providing basic facilities to a large population of the state,” he said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath further said that the Swachh Bharat Mission proved to be a milestone in safeguarding women's dignity.
“Since 2017, over 2.61 crore toilets have been provided in rural areas. After Independence, the dream of housing for the poor was fulfilled. The poor did not just get token money but houses. We provided housing to 42 lakh people in the state under the scheme. In urban areas, around 17 lakh people have been given housing under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana. Out of this nine lakh houses have been made ready,” he said, adding that 75,000 beneficiaries would get the keys of their houses from the prime minister today.
Yogi said that the schemes of drinking water, sewerage, green belt and parks had been completed in 60 municipal bodies. “UP has done good work in upgrading public transport, too. About 40 electric buses are already operational in the state. Today, as many as 75 electric buses have been flagged off. The scheme of 740 e-buses is being implemented in 14 municipal corporations,” he added.
Expressing gratitude towards the prime minister, Yogi said that the Urban Development department was the nodal authority of Kumbh-2019 which presented the management of cleanliness, security, and order. “The Integrated Control Room was successful in providing security to 24 crore pilgrims in Prayagraj Kumbh,” he said.
Highlighting the COVID-19 management strategy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister said that under the guidance of the prime minister, till now 11 crore people had been vaccinated in Uttar Pradesh and the state had conducted nearly eight crore tests.
Attacking the previous regimes, the chief minister said, “Before 2017, no municipal body of Uttar Pradesh was connected to the Metro. By November, the operation of Metro rail will start in Kanpur Nagar too.”