The Yogi Adityanath government will complete two years in office on Tuesday without any pomp and show as the model code of conduct is in force following declaration of general elections, polling of which will start from April 11 and conclude on May 19.
A senior government official told ‘The Pioneer’ on Monday that all official functions have been put on hold because of the Election Commission directives but the party may organise some functions.
Yogi Adityanath took oath of office on March 19, 2017. When the parliamentarian Mahant of Gorakhnath temple, clad in saffron, was sworn in as Chief Minister of this politically sensitive state, many eyebrows were raised. But two years down the line, Yogi has proved everyone wrong.
Not only did he streamline government functioning, he also made bureaucrats to slog. Meetings were held to remove the cobweb of indecision so that the benefits of government schemes reached the masses. All sectors moved ahead in unison. Be it crime control, education, health, agriculture et al, projects were made and budgets was sanctioned for quick implementation.
“I want implementation of projects of Central and state governments. Effective implementation of schemes will ensure that benefits reached the identified sections effectively and in a transparent manner,” Yogi said during one of his meetings with bureaucrats recently.
The feather in the cap of Yogi was the way the government organised Kumbh Mela early this year in which over 24.20 crore pilgrims took a dip at the holy Sangam.
For the first time, Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas was organised in Varanasi and 5,000 foreign delegates took part in it. Foundation stones of projects worth Rs 65,000 crore were laid in a groundbreaking ceremony as the confidence of investors was back.
Through single window system, Nivesh Mitra, operated to facilitate setting up of industries in UP, 70 services of 20 departments are being made available on-line to the investors.
The government realised what entrepreneurs needed and hence it started spreading network of quality roads across the state and repairing the old ones. Power supply was improved and now quality electricity is available across the state.
To boost industrial development of eastern Uttar Pradesh (Purvanchal), about 341-km-long Purvanchal Expressway is under construction through the state’s own financial resources. A decision has been taken to construct a 91-km-long Gorakhpur Link Expressway to link Gorakhpur with Purvanchal Expressway.
Similarly, construction of 296-km-long Bundelkhand Expressway is also on the anvil. A meeting of UP Cabinet was held in Prayagraj on January 29, 2019 in which it was decided in principle to construct Ganga Expressway in order to link west UP (Meerut) with eastern part of the state (Prayagraj). This expressway will pass through Meerut, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Budaun, Shahjahanpur, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj districts.
The high point of Yogi’s two-year rule has been the way he fulfilled the promises made by the Bharatiya Janata Party to the people. A record purchase of 52.92 lakh metric tones of wheat was made from 11,27,195 farmers under price support scheme in 2018-19 and on-line payment of Rs 9231.99 crore was made within 72 hours.
UP is the first state where maximum number of farmers (approximately 28 lakh) benefited from the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Yojana. Besides, many closed and sick sugar mills were revived and in one year the government carried out record purchase of sugar cane.
These achievements ended in national awards as the Government UP won 12 awards for the first time for successful execution of scheme implemented by the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
The first year of Yogi’s government was a testing time but from the second year, the government started marching on the path of progress. In this election year, the achievements of the Yogi government will be put to test.
“We are going to the people with our report card and asking them to vote for the work we have done as we believe that the BJP government has worked for all sections of society, be it farmers or women,” the Chief Minister recently said at a private programme.