Lucknow: Emphasizing the significance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) as the source of livelihood for crores of people in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Tuesday, said that jobs would be provided to 7.5 lakh youths through the Prime Minister and Chief Minister Internship Programmes that had been running in the state.
CM Yogi also issued directives to the MSME department to set up MSME clusters by marking land stretches along Purvanchal, Bundelkhand and Ganga Expressways. He also directed the authorities concerned to take forward the projects of establishing Unity Malls in Lucknow, Varanasi and Agra besides providing facilities to the entrepreneurs of the MSME sector as per their requirements.
While participating in a loan distribution event organized by banks in the state capital on the occasion of International MSME Day-2023, CM Yogi said: “As loans are being distributed to 3.41 lakh MSME entrepreneurs in the state, this sector is going to create maximum employment opportunities after the agriculture sector. The entrepreneurs have infused new life into MSME sector and have given a new identity to Uttar Pradesh.”
The CM also exhorted the authorities concerned to take the first phase of the project Unity Mall in Lucknow forward within the next three months.
“Due to a lack of cooperation from the government, the entrepreneurs in this sector had become frustrated and disappointed during the previous regime. However, in the last six years, with the inspiration of PM Modi, our government has been running nearly 96 lakh MSME units across the state serving crores of people as the source of livelihood,” said CM Yogi.
He also brought his flagship project of One District, One Product (ODOP) into his discourse claiming that UP was the first state in the country to implement the ODOP scheme to keep the MSME sector alive.
“Whenever MSME and ODOP are referred to in the country today, the name of Uttar Pradesh rings first on people's psyche”, CM Yogi averred.
Moreover, UP was the leading state in the country to get GI tag for 52 products and the credit for the achievement went to the ODOP scheme, said CM Yogi.
“Varanasi alone has obtained GI tags for 23 products. We have 75 districts, and in the coming days, many other products of Uttar Pradesh will get a GI tag. The day is not far when the traditional products of Uttar Pradesh will be known both within the country and across the world”, he added.