Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Uttar Pradesh was emerging as the growth engine of the country’s economy and would substantially contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a five-trillion-dollar economy by itself becoming a one-trillion-dollar economy in the next five years.
Addressing a press meet on completion of 100 days of the second term of his government here on Monday, the chief minister said that it was because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and concern for the people, especially the deprived section, and his development-oriented policies that people had reposed faith in him, and the Bharatiya Janata Party swept the election for the second time in a row.
In this context, Yogi mentioned the rout of the opposition parties mainly, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress in the recent election to the UP Legislative Council, noting that the upper House had finally become “Congress mukt” (free of Congress).
He also mentioned the debacle of the opposition in the parliamentary bypolls held in Rampur and Azamgarh, saying it was a clear indication that the people wanted development not those who believed in dynastic politics.
The chief minister said that soon after assuming office for the second time in a row, his cabinet selected 10 sectors to push growth of the state. He said presentations of projects were made by the ministries and relevant departments and subsequently, Prime Minister Modi launched projects worth more than Rs 80,000 crore to accelerate the development of UP.
Highlighting his government’s commitment to implement schemes the BJP had promised during assembly election, the chief minister said 95 out of the 130 promises made in the party’s Sankalp Patra were fulfilled in the first budget pegged at Rs 6.15 lakh crore.
Reiterating his commitment to maintain law and order in the state, Yogi said that illegal properties worth Rs 844 crore that were acquired by the mafia had either been seized or demolished in the first 100 days of his second term.
He said that pursuing its zero tolerance policy against crime and criminals, the UP government had freed 68,784 encroachment sites and 76,196 illegal parking places from the clutches of mafia and criminals. He added that 2,273 criminals involved in crime against women had also been penalised under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act).
Yogi said that 1.20 lakh loudspeakers had been removed from different places. He said communal harmony was witnessed in the state whether it was Ram Navami or Eid, the festivals were celebrated peacefully and no public function was held on the streets.
Yogi said that the state government’s initiatives had also led to significant increase in investments in the state and the government planned to provide direct and indirect employment to 25 lakh people in five years.
“Government jobs have been provided to 10,000 youths in the last 100 days. Because of the government's initiative, the unemployment rate of UP has dropped from 18 per cent in 2016 to 2.9 per cent,” Yogi said.
As for farmers and the farm sector, Yogi said that Rs 47,265 crore had been transferred to the bank accounts of 2.55 under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi while Rs 12,535 crore had been paid to cane farmers for the sugarcane procured by sugar mills.
Yogi said that crop loans of Rs 4,635 crore had been distributed to eight lakh farmers while arrangements had been made for irrigation of 21 lakh hectares of land.
Yogi said that one lakh new beneficiaries had been added to the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana and the government had increased the pension for old and destitute women, differently-abled and widows to Rs 1,000.
“Besides, Rs 400 crore has been provided as a revolving and community investment support fund to 82,520 SHGs,” he said.
He added that the government planned to plant 35 crore saplings in five years in the state, adding that 75 saplings would be planted in each village of the state on the occasion of Independence Day.
Yogi said that UP was set to become a data centre hub with the setting up of four data centres on cards. He said the data centres would employ 4,000 youths.
Yogi said that UP had successfully controlled diseases like the novel coronavirus infection, kala-azar, malaria and encephalitis.
Also present on the occasion were Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak and Jal Shakti and Disaster Management Minister Swatantra Dev Singh.