Yogi Adityanath lashes out at critics over farm issues

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Dinesh Sharma on their way to attend the Assembly. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav) 

TAKING ON the Opposition, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said people who did not even know the difference between “lauki aur aaloo” or “aam aur ganna”, were targeting his government on farmer issues. Pointing towards the Congress legislators in the Assembly and without naming their national party president Rahul Gandhi, Adityanath said that there was a leader who is speaking about opening “aaloo ki factory”, without knowing that potatoes were grown on a field and not in a factory. He was speaking during the debate on the demand for supplementary grants, which was passed by the House.

Displaying the new logo of Kumbh Mela, released recently by the government, Adityanath said gratitude should Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be thanked for bringing Kumbh on the UNESCO map.

Citing different schemes and projects taken up by his government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath alleged that previous governments had promoted corruption and criminalised politics while keeping the people away from basic facilities. He added that no government scheme has reached 1,625 villages of Uttar Pradesh since Independence and work was on to bring achieve this. Later this month, foundation of Metro Rail will be laid in Kanpur and Agra, Adityanath said, adding that efforts are being made get around 100 acres vacated from “land mafia” in Allahabad.

The CM informed the House ‘Uttar Pradesh Establishment Day’ will be observed from January 22 to 24, during which the government will launch its ‘one district-one product’ project.

As part of the project, one product will be promoted from one district, such as silk sari from Varanasi and locks of Aligarh. Pointing towards Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary, Adityanath said dishes like baati-chokha from Ballia and petha of Agra would also be promoted. Chaudhary belongs to Ballia.

Co-Operative Societies Act 

Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav raised the issue of the state government bringing an Ordinance to amend the Co-Operative Societies Act. Maintaining that while the Governor had given permission to convene the House from December 14, Shivpal asked why was the Ordinance was cleared by the Governor in a hurry on December 7 when the House was yet to meet. In reply, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna said that Constitution has given power to the Governor to consider an ordinance when the House is not in session. It is up to the discretion of the Governor to consider the Ordinance, and thus cannot be questioned, he added.

Stray Animals

On stray animals creating problems for farmers and their crops, the government said it plans to open ‘Gau Vansh Vanya Vihar’ with a capacity of take care of 1,000 animals each in seven districts of Bundelkhand.