Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav claimed that voices against the present Bharatiya Janata Party government in UP were gaining ground and the people were determined for a change in 2022.
“In Muzaffarnagar, lakhs of farmers gathered against the three agriculture laws and raised slogans against the BJP, while teachers, weavers, youth gathered in Bhadohi. This shows the real picture of the state," Yadav said at a public meeting in Bhadohi on Sunday.
“It seems to be a foregone conclusion that the BJP is set to be voted out from power in 2022 assembly polls," he said, adding that Samajwadi Party would form the next government.
“If the SP government is formed, then the grievances of the farmers and weavers will be addressed on top priority employment will be provided to youth,” the SP chief said.
Yadav addressed the Samajwadi Teachers' Association's conference and teachers’ felicitation programme organised at Bhadohi.
"At the time of COVID-19, the UP government abdicated its responsibility and the people were left to fend for themselves. Beds in hospital were not available and a large number of people died due to lack of oxygen “Yadav said.
Yadav said that today the rights of farmers were being snatched away. "After the implementation of the new agriculture laws, the farming from the farmers will be snatched away and farming will end. The BJP had promised to double the income of the farmers but instead of doubling the farmer's income, it is snatching away their farming,” he alleged.
Yadav said that the government did not help the teachers and only the SP government helped them. He said the Carpet Mart in Bhadohi was built during the SP government.
To mark the beginning of the drive, the chief minister himself gave a green signal to a team of sanitation workers who have been on-boarded for the cleanliness project that will function simultaneously in the entire state.
Revealing the motive behind this noble campaign, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, "For the prevention of communicable diseases, like encephalitis, dengue, malaria, chikungunya, cholera, diarrhoea, etc. the state government will run works like cleaning, drainage, sanitisation, fogging and spraying simultaneously. Not only this, we will also distribute chlorine tablets to ensure people are drinking pure and safe water."
Talking about his government's plan of action, Yogi Adityanath said, "Just like the monitoring committees did a great job in controlling the spread of COVID-19, we will be associating every citizen with this cleanliness drive at the local and ward level to achieve maximum results."
He also appealed to the people not to throw the garbage of their houses in the drains or on roads and put it only in the dustbins kept at the designated place.
The cleanliness drive has brought encephalitis deaths in the state at the minimum level. Mentioning the role of the cleanliness campaign in controlling encephalitis which plagued children for 40 years in eastern UP, Yogi Adityanath said that from 1977-78 to 2017, over 1,500 children lost their lives every year due to encephalitis in the north eastern region of the state and the entire eastern Uttar Pradesh was groaning from the disease.
He said, “In 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the mantra of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the result of this cleanliness campaign was in front of everyone. With toilets in every house, the change is clearly visible."
After the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power, encephalitis was controlled and this was only possible because of the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who responded with a comprehensive plan and tried every possible way to eliminate the deadly disease.
At the launch of the cleanliness campaign at the state level (that will run for a week), Yogi Adityanath strongly encouraged the sanitation workers by describing them as the foundation stone for cleanliness. He honoured nine women safai workers and male safai workers for doing excellent work by giving gifts and certificates. Appreciating the sanitation workers wholeheartedly, the chief minister said that without worrying about themselves, they were engaged in making every house and city clean and beautiful with their hard work and efforts. (Regardless of their own health, they play an important role in maintaining the health of the city,” he added.
Describing the sanitation workers as the foundation stone for cleanliness, the chief minister said that earlier during the previous government their voices used to be suppressed but in their honour, the BJP government had launched the cleanliness campaign. Instructing officials, he said that after every festival, the municipal corporation should call the safai workers and give them sweets and food and honour them.
Eastern Uttar Pradesh had once become a stronghold of diseases like encephalitis, malaria and dengue. Today, along with overcoming diseases with cleanliness awareness, the Yogi government is writing a new story of development.
Due to heavy rains in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Nepal, rivers overflowed in rural areas. Due to timely rescue measures, the urban areas were saved from floods, but due to the rise in the water level of the rivers, the regulators had to be shut down. As a result, some areas of the city were facing severe water-logging. The chief minister said that a coordinated team of the Public Works Department, Gorakhpur Development Authority, and Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation had been formed to solve the problem of water-logging in the city. He said this team had been instructed to make temporary and permanent solutions to water-logging immediately for the entire city, including the new localities.
Around 15 districts of Purvanchal are affected by floods. In Gorakhpur, over 2.26 lakh people of about 304 villages have been affected. To deal with the situation, 405 boats and 50 steamers have been deployed in Gorakhpur and 50 more steamers and additional boats are being arranged. Along with this, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) are also working 24x7.
The chief minister said that adequate arrangements had been made for relief material for the flood-affected people.
Relief material provided to the flood victims contains 10 kg rice, lentils, and potatoes, 2 kg tur dal, refined oil, salt, turmeric, chilli, spices, gram, jaggery, candles, match sticks, umbrella, and raincoat.
The chief minister said that the administration was also making arrangements to ensure that there was no shortage of fodder for the animals in the affected areas.
Inaugurating the cleanliness campaign, Yogi also remembered former President Dr Sarvepalli. Radhakrishnan on Teacher’s Day. He said that teacher was the one who gave the right direction to society. “It is the responsibility of all of us to join this cleanliness campaign to give better direction to society,” he said.
On the death of a farmer or sharecropper due to flood, the administration has been directed to immediately provide insurance of Rs 5 lakh under the CM Farmer Accident Insurance Scheme. For those whose pucca houses have been damaged due to floods, the government will also give financial assistance of up to Rs 95,000. If someone's house has merged with the river due to erosion, the government will not only give the person a lease of land for housing but also a house under CM Awas Yojana.
A sum of Rs 16 crore has been made available for flood rescue projects. Due to this, large-scale loss of lives and property was prevented by securing the Gaghara-Rakhat-Aswanpar embankment, Aswanpar-Dehraghat embankment, Bhowapar-Gola embankment, Kanil-Mazgaon embankment, Malaon embankment. It is to be mentioned that the flood rescue projects worth Rs 11 crore have been completed in Gola tehsil of Gorakhpur.