A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked his ministers to do away with `lal-batti’ culture, many ministers in the Yogi government did not wait till May 1 and removed the red beacon from their official vehicles on Thursday.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath welcomed the move of the Centre to ban the use of red beacon lights through a tweet.
“I welcome the historic decision of the Centre to remove red beacons. Every Indian is a VIP. We should put our target for the people of Antodaya,” Yogi said in his tweet on Thursday.
Officials say that during presentation of Home department on Wednesday evening when almost all cabinet ministers were present, Yogi informed them about the PM’s decision about `lal batti’ and suggested that UP ministers should follow suit.
The ministers agreed and themselves removed the red beacon from their official cars. The beginning was made by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and followed by Women’s Welfare minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Health minister Sidharthnath Singh, law minister Brijesh Pathak and Power minister Srikant Sharma.
Animal Husbandry minister SS Baghel removed red beacon in Agra. Social Welfare minister Ramapati Ram Shastri, Transport minister Satyadeo Singh too followed suit.
“This is a very good decision. A minister does not need a ‘lal batti’ to make his presence felt in public. His work should speak,” Rita Bahuguna Joshi said.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhury and UP Congress vice-president Satyadeo Tripathi too lauded the move of the Centre. “But we will have to see how the decision was implemented and whether the BJP government in the state would strictly follow it,” they said.