Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday targeted previous governments over law and order, claiming that Uttar Pradesh was now known as the best state in which all types of crimes were checked while the criminals were either lodged in prison or had been eliminated.
"The state, which was once prone to riots and used to give protection to criminals, is now known as the best state in which every form of crime has been curbed," Yogi Adityanath claimed while addressing the passing out parade of 15,448 female recruits of Lucknow Police and also laying foundation stone of a grand building of Lucknow police commissionerate and inaugurating government buildings.
"Before 2017, questions were used to raise the law and order situation and safety of women in the state. We decided that 20 per cent of police recruits should be women," he said, adding that the daughters of the state had actively participated in the police recruitment in the last four and a half years and they were making the law and order situation in the state better.
The chief minister also paid tribute to the policemen who were martyred in the last four and a half years.
"The state, which used to be known as 'Prashn (question) Pradesh,' today has become an 'Uttar (answer) Pradesh' for the whole country," he added.
"We have fast-tracked the police recruitment process. After 1947, today we have passed the maximum budget of the UP Police force. We have given police forensic institutes. It has been my belief from the beginning that the stronger the police force, the more positive the state will be. Due to the good law and order situation prevailing in the state right now, investments in the state have increased," Yogi Adityanath said.
The chief minister claimed that about 1.5 lakh police recruitments were done in the state with complete transparency unlike the previous governments known for selections on “money” or “caste line” considerations.
He said that before 2017, only 6,000 recruits could be trained and today the government had successfully imparted training to 15,428 recruits. Referring to the plight of the police in the previous governments, the chief minister said that earlier there was no arrangement for police constables and there was neither a house nor a place to sit in the office.
He said, “Today after independence, we have spent many times more in four and a half years than any government would have spent on Uttar Pradesh Police force. Today police commissionerates have been established in four metropolitan cities of the state. The police are getting the benefit of this. Along with this, it will help in enhancing the image of the state in front of the country and the world.”
Yogi said that he believed that the more efficient the police force, the more it would have a positive effect on law and order and economy.
The chief minister said that when these recruits went on their duty across the state, they would improve the law and order situation in the state. He congratulated the completion of the training and expressed hope that the new recruits would work as per the zero tolerance policy of the government towards crime and would contribute to further empowering Mission Shakti.
The chief minister inspected the convocation parade and presented awards and citations to the policemen who did remarkable work. He honoured recruited constables Nidhi Singh Chouhan, Kajal Yadav, Santoshi Kushwaha, Jyoti Rathore, Monika and Prachi Chouhan by giving citations.
It may be mentioned that a convocation ceremony of 15,428 recruited constables was simultaneously held and the chief minister attended the passing out ceremony of 519 female recruits of Lucknow Police Commissionerate at the Reserve Police Lines here.
On this occasion, Director General of Police, Mukul Goyal, Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Additional Chief Secretary (MSME and Information) Navneet Sehgal were also present.