Despite Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s repeated claims that ' development' would be the key agenda during the coming 2017 assembly elections in the state, government has failed to hold any development meeting in two important districts of Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar this fiscal.
Officials did not give reasons for not holding a single meeting of District Development Committee even after eight months of the financial year. But some blame politics for this delay as Azam Khan is in-charge of both these districts and two Union Ministers represent these districts in lok Sabha.
Every district approves developmental projects including construction of roads during the start of the financial year so that all the works are completed within the fiscal year. Financial sanctions are also made accordingly.
State ministers are in-charge of each of the committees in the districts and surprisingly in both the districts of Muzaffarnagar and Ghaziabad, state urban development and Minority Welfare minister Mohammad Azam Khan is the in-charge. Interestingly both the district is represented at the lok Sabha by union minister.
While Union minister of state for agriculture Sanjeev Baliyan is the member from Muzaffarnagar, Union minister of state for external affairs General V K Singh represents Ghaziabad.
A senior official told The Pioneer that no one knows as when the meeting would be held but admitted that non holding of the meeting has created several problems including paucity of funds for development works.
Opposition parties have used this issue to beat government as BJP says that these two districts project the real pace of development under Samajwadi Party government. Party's spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that the arrogant UP minister do not want to sit with Union minister hence he was not holding the meeting leading to lack of development in these two districts.
"UP government has given a slogan of Uttam Pradesh but the ministers of Akhilesh Yadav are converting it into a backward state," he alleged.
UP Congress vice-president Satyadev Tripathi said Muzaffarnagar and Ghaziabad lack good roads and other infrastructure. "UP CM should look into the matter seriously and should remove Azam Khan as the in-charge of the districts immediately," he said.