In an attempt to answer opposition charges of lack of development in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that next four years will only witness inauguration or dedication of projects because development not divisive politics would be the main agenda in the coming lok sabha election.
"Next few years will only witness laying of foundation stones of development projects or dedication of schemes to the masses. The Government is marching to the path of development on full throttle," Yadav said while inaugurating and laying foundation stones of over 350 projects in roads and power sectors here on Thursday. The statement came as an answer to the opposition charges of lack of development in the state. BSP national president Mayawati and BJP state leaders had time and again questioned Akhilesh Yadav’s priorities as they claimed that development has come to a naught.
"There is a tremendous progress in the health sector. New ambulance schemes have been launched and there is no scarcity of medicines in the hospitals any more. People are happy with health sector now. The focus of our government would be road and power sector. New projects would be launched almost every month and these would be implemented in a time bound manner," he said. Chief Minister inaugurated road and power sector projects worth Rs 2300 crore which includes setting up of 200 power sub-stations, construction of 84 bridges and also laid foundation of 47 other bridges.
Wth development issues high in his mind Chief Minister said that coming lok Sabha elections would be fought on the agenda of development. ''The people will evaluate themselves the development work being done by Samajwadi. They will compare it with the work being done by the prevous BSP Government and the Congress in the centre," he said.
Yadav, who is also the state president of the party used this opportunity to hit back at BSP saying previous Government should be held responsible for the lack of development. "The last Government did not complete the projects that were stated by Mulayam Singh Yadav Government. With the result we require another Rs 5,000 crore to complete the delayed projects started," Yadav said. "The onus is now on us to complete these projects. We are ready with the challenge. All the district headquarters would be connected with 4-lane roads and 6500 villages having population of 500 and above would get 2-lane roads," he said.
While answering a query Yadav said his government was committed to fulfilling the promises made to the people during the 2012 Assembly elections. He also said the Rail Over Bridge(ROB) on the Mall Avenue near the BSP office in the state capital would be completed on time. PWD minister Shivpal Singh Yadav said government would go for supplementary budget to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore to complete the unfinished works of bridges and roads. There is a target to construct 100 bridges this year in which 27 are ROBs.
He also said 1,300 kilometers of new 2-lane roads would be constructed in the state to connect the villages of which 650 km would be made this year. Chief Secretary Javed Usmani, welcoming the guests, said power crisis in the state would end soon as several new power projects are on the anvil. "Around 8000 MW of power would be generated by the new projects in the state besides power purchase of around 6,000 MW was also on the cards," he said. On the occasion, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation limited (UPPCl) MD A P Mishra signed an agreement with a private company to purchase 390 megawatt of power for next 25 years. The rate of power purchase from the private company would be Rs 4.98 per unit.