Nearly 1,600 villages of the State which were deprived of welfare schemes since Independence would be brought into the mainstream of development. This was assured by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at a public gathering after unveiling HCl Foundation’s biggest corporate social responsibility project coined ‘Samudaay’ in lucknow on Tuesday.
Yogi said that investments by big companies like HCl would boost the State’s industrial sector and generate greater employment opportunities for the youth. Hailing the efforts of companies like HCl, the Chief Minister said that the company was working in rural sector to help improve living standards of villagers and also help the State Government in facilitating basic needs like health, education and shelter.
“It makes me proud that HCl, which started its journey from Uttar Pradesh and is now a global conglomerate, has chosen the State for its biggest CSR project. I am confident that the spirit with which the project is being implemented will certainly help the last man,” Yogi asserted. The CM added that HCl was planning to invest Rs 1,500 crore in the State which would accelerate the pace of development in Uttar Pradesh. Talking about ‘Open Defecation Free’ (ODF) programme, he said that six districts have been declared ODF so far and the Government was taking measures to make at least 30 more districts ODF by the end of the year. “Educated and responsible people of the society should spread awareness about development initiatives of the State Government,” he suggested.
Claiming that 45,000 villages had been electrified so far, Yogi said that with the help of solar energy, the Government was aiming at electrifying the entire State by the end of 2018. The CM also laid the foundation stone for Malhapur Solar Energy Mini Grid 26.3kW. Welcoming the CM, Chief Executive Officer of HCl Corporation and Chairperson of the CSR Committee Roshni Nadar Malhotra said, “The HCl Foundation believes that positive social change can be brought by innovative and creative models of development. We feel that through the ‘Samudaay’ model it will be possible to develop a blueprint that is sustainable, scalable and replicable throughout the world.” Director of Project Samudaay, Navalpreet Kaur said, “The HCl will help us bring a positive impact through its various interventions in areas of education, livelihood, health, infrastructure, wash and sanitation and agriculture.” Samuday is a rural development initiative to create model villages, which has touched lives of around 6 lack people in the State so far. Currently, the project is being implemented in three blocks of Hardoi.
Since its launch, ‘Samudaay’ has impacted around six lakh people in 90,000 households across 720 villages through various interventions in education, agriculture, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, infrastructure and livelihood.