Lucknow: Asserting that Uttar Pradesh has undergone a complete transformation under his government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that there have been no riots since 2017, strict action has been taken against the mafia and the state is in the frontline of implementing welfare schemes, ensuring the ease of doing business and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Making public his government’s report card months before facing the assembly polls, the chief minister also hit out at the opposition, saying they were busy building their houses when they were in power, indulged in corruption and nepotism, caused suffering to the sugarcane farmers and used to see centres of faith like Ayodhya from a communal point of view.
Opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party, BSP and the Congress, however, dismissed the Adityanath government’s report card as “lies”.
“In the 2022 Assembly elections, BJP will cross 350 seats (out of 403 seats), and there should be no doubt on this,” the chief minister said at a press conference and stressed that his government has fulfilled every promise mentioned in the Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra in 2017.
“The opposition should read it. Had the opposition attended our training camps, they would have learnt something, and would have got wisdom,” he remarked.
Details of the report card
Uttar Pradesh is now number one in implementing 44 central schemes be it the PM Awas Yojna or construction of toilets in the households and its image is no longer liked with riots and lawlessness due to effective and transparent governance, Adityanath said.
“Unlike them (previous governments), we did not make luxurious houses for ourselves. Our government focused on building houses for the poor,” he said, taking a veiled dig at his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav.
“Government bungalows were demolished, and there was a competition to build houses for themselves as well as huge ‘havelis’ (mansions). But the four-and-half years were dedicated to good governance. And we did not build houses for ourselves, but for 42 lakh poor people of the state,” he said.
He said criminals were firmly dealt with irrespective of their caste, religion and social status to provide a safe and secure environment in the state.
“UP remained free from any riots during four-and-half years unlike in the past when there used to be communal clashes every 3-4 days,” the chief minister said.
He also claimed the government displayed sensitivity at every level.
Facing criticism over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the chief minister pointed out that the state has the highest number of tests and vaccinations and is among those with the lowest positivity rates.
He said the investors’ confidence in the state is growing and UP has emerged as number two in the country in terms of ease of doing business.
Accusing the previous SP government of shuffling officials frequently, Adityanath said, “Transfer and posting had assumed the shape of an industry in the previous (SP) government. Every post was sold.
“Earlier, the officials were shuffled like a pack of cards. But in the past four-and-half years, no person can level allegations of exchange of money for posting.”
A booklet titled ‘Vikaas kee lahar, har gaav har shahr’ which listed achievements of the UP government was also released on the occasion. Among other things, it claimed that 4.50 lakh youth have been given government jobs.
“UP which was considered an obstacle in the path of development, the same UP is number one in implementing 44 central scheme,” Adityanath said.
The UP chief minister said the centres of faith were given due honour under his government.
“However, the opposition parties used to see them from the communal point of view. They always remained apprehensive about organising Deepotsav in Ayodhya, and thought that if they do it, they will get the label of being communal,” he said.
He also said that UP is among the leading states in the country that have prepared a plan to implement the National Education Policy.
Some of the achievements of the BJP government mentioned in the booklet are loan waiver worth Rs 36,000 crore to 86 lakh farmers, payment of Rs 1.44 lakh crore to sugarcane farmers and free ration to 15 crore people under Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojana.
The state has emerged as a new export hub, he said adding that there is an environment of safety in the state now.
“Before the BJP came to power in the state, there were deaths due to hunger in the state. After coming to power, the verification of ration cards was done, and it was found that nearly 40 lakh poor people did not have ration cards. Now, 80,000 ration shops have been linked to ePOS machines,” he said.
He also said that in the period from 2007 to 2017, many sugarmills were either closed or sold at throwaway prices, thereby making the lives of the sugarcane farmers miserable.
The previous governments did the work of ruining the condition of farmers where they were forced to commit suicide, he said.
“In the previous governments, the crops were purchased through intermediaries, but our government purchases them directly from the farmers,” he said.
The current Uttar Pradesh government has cleared over 84.29 percent of dues of sugarcane farmers of the state, making it the highest and fastest payment in a season in the past 50 years.
The sugar mills have procured 1,028 lakh tons of sugarcane worth Rs 33,025 crore of which dues of Rs 27,837.52 crore have been cleared.
“Over 45.22 lakh sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been paid a record cane price payment of more than Rs 1,42,889 crore between 2017-2021 which indicates the pro-farmer stance of the government.
From 2017 till now Rs 1.43 lakh crore has been paid, said the CM.
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Remarks on comparison with previous UP govts
During Mayawati’s tenure from 2007-2012, 30 lakh cane farmers were paid Rs 52,131 crore and during the Akhilesh Yadav’s regime from 2012-2017, a payment of Rs 95,215 crore was made to 33 lakh farmers, the UP government later said in a statement issued here.
The payment made by the BJP-led UP government is twice the amount that was made by the former Bahujan Samaj Party government and 1.5 times more than the Samajwadi Party government, the statement said.
Between 2007 and 2017 all the sugar mills were either sold at throwaway prices or were shut down, it alleged.
It also pointed out to the implementation of ration card portability in the entire state and demolition/seizure of illegal property of the mafia worth over Rs 1,866 crore.
As many as 150 criminals have been killed in encounters; 3,427 criminals have been injured, National Security Act has been slapped on 630 people and 44,759 have been booked under the Goonda Act, it said, also noting that work on Police Forensic University has commenced in Lucknow.
Uttar Pradesh has also become the first state in the country to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to nine crore people.
In 59 districts of the state, at least one medical college is operational, while work is going on a PPP model to construct medical colleges in the rest of the 16 districts.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 42 lakh houses have been built, while under the Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana (grameen), over 1.08 lakh houses were built.
Under the Ujjwala scheme, free gas connections have been given to 1.67 crore women.
In the state, 4.50 lakh youth have been given government jobs.
Both the Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh and BJP’s UP in-charge Radha Mohan Singh were present on the occasion.
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Opposition hits out at report card
Poverty, unemployment and inflation have soared in the four-and-half-year rule of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and the report card released by the government highlighting its achievements is all gas and full of lies, the opposition parties charged.
The Samajwadi Party said, “The-16 page booklet published by the BJP government is 16 aane (hundred per cent) lies.”
The Bahujan Samaj Party said the advertisement of transformation of four-and-half years is “all gas and far from reality”.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath released the report card of his rule of four-and-half years and said Uttar Pradesh remained riot-free since 2017 while governance saw a complete transformation from the past with welfare schemes now reaching the deserving and the state emerging as number two in the ease of doing business.
The BJP government has fulfilled every promise mentioned in the Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra in 2017, he said and voiced confidence that the party’s tally will cross 350 seats in the 403-member House in the 2022 assembly polls.
Dismissing the claims as “rhetoric”, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, “Six months are left for this government, which has committed atrocities on farmers, poor, women and the youth through unemployment, inflation, hatred and slump in business.”
“Do not want a government whose truth is ‘thug ka saath, thug ka vikas, thug ka vishwas, thug ka prayaas’,” he said, taking a swipe at the BJP dispensation.
Yadav said, “The 16-page booklet published by the BJP government is 16 aane (hundred per cent) lies. It seems that the BJP government in UP has published the textbook of ‘international training centre for lies’. But the BJP’s ‘jhoot ke doot’ (messenger of lies) will only be able to run them in online classes as they are unable to go to the masses.”
BSP chief Mayawati said, “The advertisement of transformation of four-and-half years is all gas and far from reality….there has been increase in poverty, unemployment and inflation, and the bad condition of the public is known to everyone.”
UP Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh said the Adityanath rule has been full of lies and deceit.
“UP has become number one in corruption, crime and in problems faced by the farmers. The BJP government is organising events as a desperate move to save itself ahead of the 2022 assembly polls,” Singh said.
Attacking the BJP government, Rashtriya Kisan Manch president Shekhar Dixit said, “Four years ago, a promise was made that the sugarcane price will be paid to the farmers in 14 days. But this was conveniently forgotten, and till date, no statement from the government came on this. Corruption is rampant at the wheat and paddy purchase centres in the state.”
He added that the suicide by farmers is still continuing.
“This government has only taken forward the policies of the previous government. However, you should be congratulated for the ongoing construction of Ram temple (in Ayodhya). But, please do not open the box of lies pertaining to development and transformation,” Dixit said.
Rebutting the claims made by the opposition leaders, UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said, “Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati and the entire opposition has no logical answer to the development done in the state. It also has no point-wise questions to the development of UP in the past four-and-half years. The opposition sitting in palaces has indulged only in tweeting. After seeing today’s report card, they have accepted their defeat.”
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