Claiming that the "difference is clear" before the people between the previous governments in Uttar Pradesh and the present efficient rule of Yogi Adityanath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that no criminal could dare to enter UP now.
Without taking the name of any political party, the prime minister continued his tirade against the opposition parties and even blamed them for delaying projects leading to escalation of costs and problems for the common people.
Addressing a big public meeting in Balrampur on Saturday after inaugurating the Rs 9,800-crore Saryu Nahar Rashtriya project in the presence of UP Governor Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and several other Central and state ministers, the prime minister claimed that this project would widely benefit the small and marginal farmers who had two hectare land.
Hitting out at the previous governments in UP, Modi said, “Those who were in the government earlier used to get illegal occupation of the land here. But today such mafia are being fined and bulldozers are going on their illegal properties. That's why the people of UP say the difference is clear."
"Those who were in the government earlier, they used to promote bahubalis. But today Yogi ji's government is engaged in empowering the poor, the downtrodden, the backwards and the tribals. That's why the people of UP say the difference is clear," he said.
Similarly, he said, “Those who were in the government earlier used to give protection to the mafia. But today Yogi ji's government is busy cleaning up the mafias. That's why the people of UP say the difference is clear."
During his speech, without taking the name of Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, the prime minister said, "I was expecting that the people would have claimed to have laid the foundation stone of this Saryu canal like they were doing in other projects in the state. But unfortunately, the person would have been a small child when the project was started in the 1970s.”
The prime minister said utilising the water of the country's rivers and adequate water reaching the farmers' fields was one of the top priorities of the government and completion of the Saryu Canal National Project was proof that when the thinking was honest, the work was also strong.
"When work on this project started, its cost was less than Rs 100 crore. But today it has been completed after spending about Rs 10,000 crore. The country has already paid 100 times more for the negligence of the governments," he said.
He said there was a thinking that no one cared for the government money and it was misutilised, which became the biggest obstacle in the balanced and all-round development of the country. This thinking also suspended the Saryu canal project for decades as work on it started about 50 years ago and today its work was completed.
Claiming that it was a big achievement of the double engine government, the prime minister said works of 50 years were completed in just five years’ time in the Saryu canal project which was a proof of the efficiency of a double-engine government.
He also mentioned about the recent approval of the Kane-Betwa link project on which the government would spend Rs 45,000 crore.
On the occasion, the prime minister also appealed to the farmers to join a programme on natural farming to be held on December 16 next.
Talking about the challenges of the novel coronavirus pandemic period, Modi said, “During the coronavirus period, we have tried sincerely that no poor should sleep hungry. Right now, the campaign for free ration being provided under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana has been extended beyond Holi."
He said that the government had already spent Rs 2.60 lakh crore on distribution of free food grains in the country.
Speaking about the importance of Balrampur, the prime minister said, “Whenever we'll speak of Ram temple in Ayodhya, the contribution of Maharaja Pateshwari Prasad Singh Saheb of Balrampur princely state (erstwhile) will be mentioned. People in Balrampur are connoisseurs as they gave two Bharat Ratnas in the form of Nanaji Deshmukh and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in his speech said, “Seventeen out of the 18 irrigation projects in the state have been completed, with which UP's nine districts' almost 15 lakh hectare land has now found a great way for irrigation, to double the income of farmers.
"We launched projects worth Rs 10,000 crore on December 7 in Gorakhpur and inaugurated ninth medical colleges in Siddharthnagar and an international airport in Kushinagar. The Saryu Nahar National Project was approved in 1972, the year I was born. I grew up but it never got completed," he said.
Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat also addressed the meeting while UP Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh welcomed the guests.