LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath created a record on Monday during his visit to Hathras by becoming the first ever Chief Minister in the history of the state to have visited all 75 districts in just 16-month of his government's rule. However, during his visit to Hathras, where he laid foundation stone of 34 development and welfare schemes worth Rs 155 crore, the chief minister held previous governments responsible for state's backwardness and lack of development.
Addressing a public meeting, the CM launched a blistering attack on the parties that had been ruling the state for the last decade and a half saying they had been busy propagating caste and dynastic politics and nepotism. He cautioned the people of Hathras against supporting those family and caste-based parties in the future elections. The CM claimed the 'gundaraj' established during the SP rule had been totally nixed in the state. Pitching in for development, CM Yogi said there was no alternative for it.
"Previous Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government had no vision and that retarded the growth of the state," he stated adding that law and order was in tatters then following which investors were turned away. He claimed that his government had focused on the holistic development of Uttar Pradesh during the last 16 months of governance.
Notably, while assuming the charge on March 19 last year, Yogi Adityanath had spelt out his priorities and visiting each and every district of the state to speed up overall development of Uttar Pradesh was one of them. The intent was to ensure that benefits of the schemes launched by the Centre and his government reached the last persons of the state.
"With his Hathras visit, the Chief Minister will become the first Head of the government to cover the entire state within first 16 months of his rule. No other Chief Minister in UP's history has ever visited all 75 districts even in five years of their rule," claimed a senior official in the CM's Secretariat. Undertaking visits to at least five-six districts every month, two districts - Gorakhpur and Varanasi-- have been on top of his itinerary. He has visited these two district, one of which is his own home district and other PM's parliamentary constituency, at east four-five times during the last one and a half years.
In fact, after holding his government's first investors' summit in February, this year, an investment of over Rs 4.28 lakh crore was promised to the state by known business and corporate honchos. Now after five months, Yogi government has been able to convert those promises into promises worth Rs 60,000 crore which will be launched by PM Modi at a 'ground breaking ceremony' on July 29 in state capital Lucknow. All the big business magnates are likely to join the PM at the ceremony next Sunday.